THE  LIBRARIES 


Bequest  of 

Frederic  Bancroft 

1860-1945 


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AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


FIRST  FORTY-ONE  YEARS  OF  THE  LIFE 


SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D 


TO  WHICH  IS  ADDED 


A    MEMOIR, 


BY 

HIS  ELDEST  SON, 

SYLVANUS    COBB,    Jr. 


BOSTON: 

7s  O;.     37     CdRNHILL. 

186  7. 


o-'X 


' ''  i 


CC3¥ 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1867,  by 

EUNICE    H.    COBB, 

in  the  Clerk's  Oflace  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


^a^^  t>C 


_       8TE|BOTTP'Ei;fcAKDPRINT.EDET     , 

122  Washington  St.,  Boston. 


TO 

AND 

TO  THOSE  WHO,  IN  TIMKS  PAST,  HAVE 

ENJOYED  THE  COMFORTS  OF 

A  HOME 

BENEATH  THE  ROOF  OF  THE 

''  Castle  of  Peace/* 

IN  MEMORY  OF 

HIM, 

WHOSE  EVERY  EARTHLY  HOPE  AND  AIBI  OF  LIFE 

CENTERED  IN  THE  ONE  DESIRE 

TO  5IAKE  THAT  HOME 

PEACEFUL   AND    HAPPY, 

THIS  VOLUME  IS 

AmCTlONATfilY  DEDICATED 

BY  ONE  OF  THE  PEIVILEaED  NUMBER. 

THE  MEMUIKIST. 


PREFACE  BY  THE  MEMOIRIST. 


In  presenting  this  autobiography  to  the  public,  it  seems 
appropriate  that  I  should,  in  this  place,  offer  a  few  remarks 
touching  the  character  of  the  work,  and  the  circumstances 
under  which  it  was  written. 

The  idea  of  writing  his  autobiography  did  not  originate 
with  Mr.  Cobb.  After  he  had  retired  from  the  editorial 
chair,  and  had  rested  awhile  from  the  arduous  and  wearing 
labor  of  producing  the,"  Commentary  on  the  New  Testa- 
ment," his  twin  sons,  Cyrus  and  Darius,  seeing  that  his 
strength  was  failing,  and  that  he  needed  some  healthful 
occupation  of  mind,  suggested  to  him  that  he  should  write 
a  history  of  his  life,  urging,  in  addition  to  its  value  as  a 
biography,  the  important  contribution  it  would  afford  to 
the  history  of  Universalism  in  this  country ;  and  that  he 
might  feel  no  delicacy  in  prosecuting  the  work,  they  pro- 
posed themselves  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  its  publi- 
cation. The  suggestion  pleased  him,  and  he  forthwith  set 
about  the  work ;  not  taking  hold  of  it  as  a  stated  labor, 
but  rather  as  a  source  of  mental  recreation.  In  the  midst 
of  the  work,  however,  his  health  failed  him  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  wielding  of  the  pen,  with  the  accompany- 
ing travail  of  thought,  fatigued  him ;  and  finally  it  came 
to  pass  that  his  physicians  were  obliged  to  limit  his  sea- 

5 


6  PREFACE    BY    THE    MEMOIRIST. 

sons  of  labor ;  towards  the  last  allowing  him  to  remain  at 
his  desk  not  more  than  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  at  any  one 
sitting.  And  his  manuscript  plainly  bears  evidence  of  the 
pain  with  which  his  hand,  at  times,  must  have  dragged 
over  the  page.  Of  course  Mr.  Cobb  had  no  opportunity  for 
a  general  revision  of  his  work,  as  he  left  it  at  a  point 
where  he  fully  expected  to  take  it  up  again,  —  to  take  it 
up  and  carry  it  to  a  conclusion  ;  for,  after  that,  he  made 
important  arrangements,  looking  for  their  consummation 
to  a  point  almost  a  year  beyond  the  day  on  which  he  put 
his  pen  for  the  last  time  to  the  manuscript  of  his  autobiog- 
raphy. Still  he  must  have  revised  somewhat,  for  I  find 
many  places  where  he  has  evidently  turned  back  and 
made  alterations  and  amendments,  showing  that  his  taste 
and  judgment  were  still  up  to  their  old  standard  of  beauty 
and  strength.  The  autobiographer  has  confined  himself 
mainly  to  facts,  and  those  he  has  recorded  so  plainly  and 
concisely  that  even  a  child  may  follow  him  with  perfect 
understanding. 

To  the  Universalists  of  New  England,  and  more  es- 
pecially to  those  of  Maine,  this  record  will  be  invaluable. 
The  story  of  Mr.  Cobb's  early  life  is,  in  fact,  a  history  of 
Universalism  in  Maine.  He  was  for  some  j^ears  the  chief 
pioneer  of  the  faith  in  that  State,  and  in  his  life-record  we 
have  an  account  of  the  birth  and  subsequent  growth  of 
many  of  the  most  flourishing  of  our  societies  in  that  sec- 
tion of  the  Master's  heritage.  And  the  same  may  be  said 
in  regard  to  other  localities,  as  he  performed  much  pioneer 
labor  after  he  removed  to  Massachusetts. 

It  seems  almost  an  interposition  of  Divine  Providence 


PREFACE    BY    THE    MEMOIIilST.  7 

that  Mr.  Cobb's  life  was  spared  to  bring  the  record  down  to 
the  establishment  of  his  Christian  Freeman;  because 
from  that  date  there  was  no  difficulty  in  the  taking  up  of 
the  narrative  by  another,  as  the  files  of  his  weekly  publi- 
cation afforded  sufficient  guide  to  one  who  had  been  closely 
associated  with  him  in  business  during  the  greater  portion 
of  the  time  subsequent  to  the  issue  of  the  first  number  of 
the  paper.  Down  to  that  point  —  the  going  forth  of  his 
Freeman  —  the  good  Lord  held  up  his  hand,  and  then  the 
pen  was  dropped !  To  be  sure,  Mr.  Cobb  had  kept  a 
journal  from  the  earliest  times  of  his  ministerial  labor,  and 
he  had  fragmentary  records  extending  back  to  his  school- 
boy days  ;  but  none  other  than  himself  could  have  filled  in 
all  that  was  necessary  to  the  presenting  of  a  true  and 
faithful  picture  of  his  life  therefrom ;  or,  at  least,  none 
other  could  have  done  it  so  well.  Verily,  the  hand  of  God 
sustained  him  for  a  purpose  ;  and  that  purpose  was  accom- 
plished. 

Thus  far  Mr.  Cobb  had  been  battling  with  what  he  sin- 
cerely believed  to  be  false  and  dangerous  systems  of  relig- 
ion, and  he  had  no  delicacy  in  making  a  plain  statement 
of  what  he  conceived  to  be  his  successes  and  his  victories ; 
but  when  he  finally  stepped  forth  into  a  new  field,  and  set 
himself  about  the  work  of  battling  against  errors  that 
were  winked  at,  if  not  directly  upheld,  by  many  of  his  own 
denomination,  —  when  he  started  out  upon  the  work  of 
assisting  to  elevate  the  denomination  itself,  —  I  doubt  if 
he  would  have  done  himself  justice  in  the  record.  I  doubt 
it,  because  I  do  not  believe  that  he  himself  fully  realized 
and  appreciated  the  great  work  he  had  accomplished.    As 


8  PREFACE    BY    THE    MEMOIRIST. 

he  sat  there  at  his  desk,  with  his  manhood's  accumulated 
labors  of  half  a  century  bearing  the  earthly  tabernacle 
down  to  the  grave,  he  did  not  know,  he  did  not  realize, 
how  much  he  had  accomplished.  He  had  seen  and  gloried 
in  the  magnificent  result  to  his  denomination,  and  to  his 
country,  and  to  humanity  everywhere  ;  but  his  modesty  of 
feeling,  and  generous  impulse  of  according  to  others  their 
full  due,  prevented  him  from  comprehending  how  much  he 
had  done  towards  the  grand  consummation.  And  so,  since 
in  the  providence  of  God,  it  was  not  permitted  to  him  to 
finish  the  record,  does  it  not  appear  that  he  left  it  in  just 
the  right  place  ? 

And  now,  dear  reader,  the  autobiography  is  before  you  ; 
and  be  sure,  as  you  read  it,  that  you  are  reading  the 
record  of  one  whose  soul  was  fraught  with  desire  for  the 
good  of  his  fellows,  and  whose  highest  hope  in  giving  that 
record  to  the  world  was,  that  benefit  might  result  from  its 
perusal.  And  I  do  not  think  his  hope  will  be  without  its 
fruition  ;  for  of  all  the  lessons  of  good  that  are  given  men 
to  study,  none  can  be  studied  with  more  profit  than  the 
life-lessons  which  are  borne  in  the  record  of  a  truly  great 
and  good  man.  And  such,  in  all  faith  and  candor,  I 
believe  our  autobiographer  to  have  been. 

SYLVANUS  COBB,  Jr. 
Norway,  Jan.  18,  1867. 


REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D 


HIS    ANCESTRY. 


I  AM  able  to  trace  my  lineal  descent  from  Elder  Hemy 
Cobb  as  my  immigrant  ancestor.  He  is  said  to  have  come 
over  from  England  to  the  "  Old  Colony"  in  America,  by 
the  second  trip  of  the  Mayflower,  which  was  but  a  very 
few  years  after  her  first  V03"age,  with  the  Pilgrim  Fathers, 
in  1620.  Farmer's  "Genealogical  Register  of  the  First 
Settlers  of  New  England"  says  of  him,  "He  came  to 
Plymouth  as  early  as  1629  ;  was  at  Scituate  in  1633  ;  re- 
moved to  Barnstable,  where  he  died  in  1679,  leaving  seven 
sons  and  four  daughters.  His  descendants,  says  the 
antiquary  of  Plymouth  (2  Coll.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc,  IV.  247,) 
are  as  numerous,  figuratively,  "  as  the  sands  on  the  sea- 
shore." Nineteen  of  the  name  had  graduated  at  the  New 
England  colleges  in  1828. 

From  a  series  of  chapters  on  the  "  History  of  Barn- 
stable," by  Amos  Otis,  Esq.,  published  in  the  "  Barnstable 
Patriot"  in  1862,  I  extract  the  following  statistics  of  the 
Cobb  genealogy,  which  appear  to  have  been  collected 
with  much  painstaking  research :  — 

9 


10  REV.     SYLVANUS     COBB.    D.D. 


ELDER  HENRY  COBB. 

Three  of  the  name  of  Cobb  came  to  New  England,  and  if 
John  of  Plymouth  and  John  of  Taunton  are  not  the  same,  four. 
The  Cobbs  of  Georgia  are  a  different  family,  though  perhaps 
remotely  related.  Thomas  R.  R.  Cobb,  a  brother  of  the  rebel 
Gen.  Howell  Cobb,  in  aletter  dated  at  Athens,  Ga.,  April?,  1857. 
says:  "I  have  but  little  information  as  to  my  remote  ancestry. 
The  tradition,  as  I  have  received  it  from  my  ftither,  is,  that  seven 
brothers  originally  emigrated  from  England.  Four  settled  in 
Vii-ginia,  three  went  to  Massachusetts.  Their  names  or  subse- 
quent history  I  never  learned.  I  have  heard  my  father  say  that 
his  grandfather  would  frequently  relate  that  the  brother  from 
whom  he  was  descended,  bought  his  wife  from  an  emigrant 
ship  for  seven  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco.  My  father,  grand- 
father, and  great-grandfather  were  all  named  John." 

Traditions  are  usually  worthless.  Three  of  the  name  came 
to  Massachusetts,  as  stated  in  the  letter ;  but  there  is  no  evi- 
dence that  they  were  brothers.  The  presumption  is  they  were 
not.  Mr.  Pratt,  in  his  "  History  of  Eastham,"  page  27,  gives  an 
account  of  the  origin  of  the  Cobb  families,  founded  on  a  tradi- 
tion which  is  wholly  unreliable.  He  says  four  of  the  name, 
sons  of  Sylvanus,  came  over,  namely,  Jonathan,  from  Harwich, 
England,  settled  in  Eastham  ;  Eleazer,  in  Hingham ;  Sylvanus, 
north  of  Boston  ;  and  Benjamin,  whose  son  Isaac  was  Port  Ad- 
miral of  Yarmouth,  England.  Jonathan  was  a  descendant  of 
Henry,  and  born  in  Barnstable.  Respecting  Benjamin,  the  doc- 
ument quoted  by  Mr.  Pratt  says,  he  settled  near  Rhode  Island, 
which  is  very  doubtful.  Descendants  of  Augustine  were  in  that 
vicinity.  The  Eleazer  and  Sylvanus  he  names  were  probably 
both  descendants  of  Henry.  No  Eleazer  settled  in  Hingham. 
The  earliest  of  the  name  in  that  town  was  Richard,  who  is 
called  of  Boston.  He  had  a  son  Thomas,  born  28th  March, 
1693,  probably  the  one  of  that  name  who  settled  in  Eastham, 
and  married  Mary  Freeman,  before  1719.  A  Thomas  Cobb, 
Sen'r,  died  in  Hingham  Jan.  4,  1707-8. 

Edward  Cobb  was  of  Taunton,  in  1657,  married  at  Plymouth, 
28  Nov.,  1660,  Mary  Haskins,  and  died  1G75,  leaving  a  son 
Edward.     His  widow  married  Samuel  Philips. 


HIS    ANCESTRY.  '  11 

Augustine  Cobb  was  of  Taunton  in  1670,  and  had  Elizabeth, 
bora  10  Feb.,  1771;  Morgan,  29  Dec.,  1673;  Samuel,  9  Nov., 
1675  ;  Bethia,  5  April,  1678 ;  Mercy,  12  Aug.,  1680 ;  and  Abigail, 
1684.  Gen.  David  Cobb,  one  of  the  aids  of  Washington  in  the 
army  of  the  revolution,  is  a  descendant  from  Augustine. 

John  Cobb  of  Taunton  from  1653  to  1777,  Mr.  Baylies  says, 
came  from  Plymouth ;  if  so,  he  was  a  son  of  Henry  of  Barn- 
stable. A  John  Cobb,  who  appears  to  have  been  a  resident  in 
Taunton,  administered  on  tiie  estate  of  his  brother  Gershom, 
who  was  killed  at  Swanzey  by  the  Indians,  June  24,  1675.  Mr. 
Savage  thinks  there  were  two  John  Cobbs;  but  I  prefer  the 
authority  of  Mr.  Baylies.  There  is  only  one  entry  on  the 
records  that  favors  the  supposition  that  there  were  two  John 
Cobbs,  and  that,  after  careful  examination,  I  think  is  an  error 
of  the  town  clerk  of  Taunton. 

Elder  Henry  Cobb  married  in  1631,  Patience,  daughter  of 
Dea.  James  Hurst,  of  Plymouth.  She  Avas  "bmyed  May  4, 
1648,  the  first  that  was  buryed  in  our  new  burying-23lace  by  our 
meeting-house."  (Lothrop's  Church  Rec.)  He  was  married  to 
his  second  wife,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Samuel  Hinckley,  by  Mr. 
Prince,  Dec.  12,  1649.  He  died  in  1679,  and  his  wife  Sarah  sur- 
vived him. 

In  his  will,  dated  April  4,  1678,  proved  June  3,  1679,  and  in 
the  codicil  thereto,  dated  February  28,  1678,  he  gives  his  gi-eat 
lot  of  land  in  Barnstable  to  his  son  James,  the  latter  paying 
Elder  Cobb's  son  John  £5  for  his  interest  therein.  Names  his 
sons  John,  James,  Gershom,  and  Eleazer,  to  whom  he  had  here- 
tofore given  half  his  lands  at  Suckinesset,  —  gave  his  "new 
dwelling-house  "  *  and  all  the  rest  of  his  uplands  and  meadows 
to  his  wife  Sarah.  In  his  will  he  gave  his  dwelling-house,  after 
the  decease  of  his  wife,  to  his  son  Samuel ;  but  in  the  codicil,  to 

*<'His  new  dwelling-house."  I  am  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  Elder  Cobb 
sold  his  stone  house  to  Nathaniel  Bacon,  in  his  lifetime,  and  that  the  house  to 
which  he  refers  was  on  his  "  great  lot,"  and  that  it  was  afterwards  owned  by  son 
James  and  grandson  Gershom.  In  1S23,  Mr.  Josiah  Childs,  a  descendant  in  the 
female  line,  pointed  out  a  post  to  me  in  his  fence,  and  said,  "  Fifty  years  ago  I 
mortised  that  post  from  a  timber  taken  from  the  house  of  the  first  Gershom 
Cobb,"  and  said  that  from  information  he  had  obtained  from  his  ancestors  the 
house  was  over  one  hundred  years  old,  which  consequently  was  built  in  the  life- 
time of  the  Elder.  That  house  stood  on  his  "great  lot,"  near  the  ancient  pear- 
trees  now  standing.    (See  account  of  third  Gershom  Hall.) 


12  BEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

his  son  Henry.     lie  also  names  his  son  Jonathan,  and  daugh- 
ters Mary,  Hannah,  Patience,  and  Sarah. 

ClIILDIlEN    BORN    IN   PLYMOUTH. 

I.  John,  born  7  June,  1G32.  Removed  from  Barnstable  to 
Plymouth,  and  from  thence,  according  to  Mr.  Baylies,  to  Taun- 
ton, and  returned  again  to  Plymouth  about  the  year  1G78.  He 
married  twice;  first,  28  Aug.,  1658,  Martha  Nelson,  of  P.; 
second,  June  13,  1676,  Jane  Woodward,  of  Taunton.  His 
children  were  John,  born  24  June,  1662,  in  P.,  died  young; 
Samuel,  Israel,  and  Elizabeth,  the  dates  of  whose  bivths  are  not 
given,  probably  born  in  Taunton ;  John,  born  in  Taunton  31 
March,  1678,  according  to  the  return,  probably  1677 ;  Elisha,  in 
Plymouth,  3  April,  1678 ;  and  James,  20  July,  1682.  Elisha,  of 
this  family,  probably  settled  in  Wellfleet,  and  had  Col.  Elisha 
and  Thomas.  Col.  Elisha  had  five  sons,  and  has  descendants  in 
the  lower  towns  of  this  county.  A  Thomas  Cobb  married  Mary 
Freeman  of  Eastham  before  1719,  and  probably  was  not  the 
Thomas  above  named. 

II.  James,  born  14  Jan.,  1634.  (See  account  of  him  and  his 
family  below.) 

Born  in  Scituate. 

III.  Mary,  24  March,  1637.  She  married,  15  Oct.,  1657,  Jon- 
athan Dunham,  then  of  Barnstable,  andwas  his  second  wife.  His 
first  wife  was  Mary,  daughter  of  Philip  Delano,  whom  he  mar- 
ried 29  Nov.,  1655.  He  removed  to  Middleboro',  was  some  time 
minister  to  the  Indians  at  the  islands,  but  was  in  1694  ordained 
at  Edgartowm. 

IV.  Hannah,  5  Oct.,  1639,  married,  9  May,  1661,  Edward 
Lewis.  She  died  Jan.  17,  1729-30,  aged  90  years,  3  months,  12 
days. 

Born  in  Barnstable. 

V.  Patience,  baptized  13  March,  1641-2;  married  Robert 
Parker  Aug.,  1667,  his  second  wife.  After  his  death  in  1684, 
she  probably  married  Dea.  William  Crocker. 

VI.  Gershom,  born  10,  baptized  12  Jan.,  1644-5.  He  removed 
to  Middleboro',  where  he  was  constable  in  1671,  and  on  the 
grand  jury  in  1674.     He  was  buried  at  Swanzey  24  June,  1675, 


HIS    ANCESTRY.  13 

having,  with  eight  others,  been  killed  that  day  by  the  forces  of 
Philip.  His  brother  John  administered  on  his  estate,  which  was 
divided  in  equal  proportions  to  the  children  of  Mr.  Henry  Cobb 
of  Barnstable,  only  John,  the  older  son,  to  have  a  double  por- 
tion. 

Vn.  Eleazer,  born  30  March,  1648.  He  was  admitted  a 
townsman  Dec,  1678,  when  he  was  24,  indicating  that  he  was 
then  unmarried.  He  was  of  Barnstable  in  1703,  andjis  he  had 
only  twelve  and  a  half  shares  in  the  common  lands,  the  pre- 
sumption is  that  he  was  not  then  a  householder.  It  does  not 
appear  that  he  had  a  family.  His  death  is  not  recorded,  and  the 
settlement  of  his  estate  is  not  entered  on  the  probate  records. 
It  may  be,  but  it  is  not  probable,  that  he  was  the  Eleazer  whom 
Mr.  Pratt  says  settled  in  Hingham. 

VIII.  Mehetabel,  born  1  Sept.,  1651,  died  8  March,  1652. 

IX.  Samuel,  born  Oct.  12,  1654.     (See  account  below.) 

X.  Sarah,  born  15  Jan.,  1658,  died  Jan.  25,  1658. 

XI.  Jonathan,  born  10  April,  1660.     (See  account  below.) 

XII.  Sarah,  born  10  March,  1662-3,  married,  27  Dec,  1686, 
Dea.  Samuel  Chipman  of  Barnstable.  She  had  ten  children.  Her 
sons  Thomas,  Samuel,  John,  Seth,  and  Barnabas,  were  men  who 
held  a  high  rank  in  society.  The  late  Chief  Justice  Nathaniel 
Chipman,  LL.D.,  was  her  grandson.  She  died  Jan.  8,  1742-3, 
aged  nearly  80. 

XIII.  Henry,  born  3  Sept.,  1665,  inherited  the  paternal  man- 
sion. He  was  married  by  Justice  Thacher,  10  April,  1690,  to 
Lois  Hallet.  Oct.  9,  1715,  he  was  dismissed  from  the  Barn- 
stable, to  the  church  in  Stonington,  Conn.  His  children  born 
in  Barnstable  w^ere  Gideon,  11  April,  1691;  Eunice,  18  Sept., 
1693 ;  Lois,  2  IVLarch,  1696  ;  and  Nathan,  baptized  June  1,  1700. 
Margaret,  the  wife  of  Gideon,  of  this  family,  was  admitted  July 
31,  1726,  to  the  church  in  Hampton,  Conn.  He  afterwards 
removed  from  H. 

XIV.  Mehetabel,  born  15  Feb.,  1667. 

XV.  Experience,  born  11  Sept.,  1671. 

Neither  of  these  two  daughters  being  mentioned  in  the  will 
of  their  father,  the  presumption  is  they  died  young. 

Sergeant  James  Cobb,  son  of  Elder  Henry  Cobb,  born  in 
Plymouth,  Jan.  14,  1634,  resided  in  Barnstable.  He  mamed, 
26  Dec,  1663,  Sarah,  daughter  of  George  Lewis,  Sen'r.  He 
2 


14  REV,    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

died  in  1G95,  aged  Gl.  He  left  no  will.  His  estate  was  settled 
Fel).  1,  1G95-G,  and  all  his  eleven  children  are  named.  His 
widow  Sarah  married,  23  Nov.,  1698,  Jonathan  Sparrow  of 
Eastham. 

Children  born  in  Barnstable. 

I.  Mary,  24  Nov.,  16G4,  married,  INIay  31,  1G87,  Capt.  Caleb 
Williamson  of  Barnstable.  The  family  removed  to  Hartford 
after  1700,  where  she  died  in  1737,  aged  73. 

II.  Sarah,  26  Jan.,  1666,  married,  27  Dec.,  1686,  Benjamin 
Hinckley  of  Barnstable.  She  had  ten  children,  the  first  five 
all  dying  young. 

III.  Patience,  12  Jan.,  1668,  married,  1694,  James  Coleman, 
and  had  eight  children.  She  married,  10  Sept.,  1715,  Thomas 
Lombard  of  Barnstable.  She  died  March  30,  1747,  aged  79 
years.     Her  second  husband  was  95  at  his  death.  May  31,  1761. 

IV.  Hannah,  28  March,  1671,  married  Joseph  Davis,  March, 
1695,  and  died  May  3,  1739,  aged  68.  She  left  a  family  of  eight 
children. 

V.  James,  8  July,  1673.     (See  account  below.) 

VI.  Gershom,  4  Aug.,  1675.     (See  account  below.) 

VII.  John,  20  Dec,  1677.  Mr.  John  Cobb,  as  he  is  called  on 
the  records,  married,  25  Dec,  1707,  Hannah  Lothrop.  He 
owned  the  house  now  the  residence  of  Mr.  David  Bursley,  and 
his  son  Ephraim  resided  there  within  the  memory  of  persons 
now  living.  His  children  were  Ephraim,  born  5  Dec,  1708.  He 
married  Margaret  Gardner  of  Yarmouth,  Jan.  7,  1729-30.  He 
had  also  John,  born  1  July,  1711,  died  March  1,  1713,  and  John 
again,  born  Oct.  2,  1719,  who  died  May  25,  1736.  Mr.  John 
Cobb  died  Aug.  24,  1754,  aged  77  years,  and  his  wife  Hannah 
April  3,  1747,  aged  66  years. 

VIII.  Elizabeth,  6  Oct.,  1680. 

IX.  Martha,  6  Feb.,  1682. 

X.  Mercy,  9  April,  1685. 

XI.  Thankful,  10  June,  1687. 

The  four  daughters  last  named  had  shares  in  the  estate  of 
their  father  at  the  settlement  made  in  1696.  Their  mother  mar- 
ried, in  1698,  Jonathan  Sparrow,  Esq.,  of  Eastham,  and  these 
daughters  probably  removed  to  that  town  with  her.  Mercy 
was,  May  24,  1701,  a  witness  to  the  will  of  Miriam  Wing  of 


HIS    ANCESTRY.  15 

Harwich.    At  the  proof  of  the  will,  Jan.  8,  1702-3,  she  is  called 
**  now  Mercy  Sparrow." 

I  have  a  copy  of  an  original  genealogical  record,  fur- 
nished me  by  my  uncle  Levi  Cobb,  my  father's  youngest 
brother,  of  Middleboro',  Mass.,  who  was  by  nature  a  phi- 
losopher, and  had  a  rare  taste  for  collecting  biographical 
and  historical  facts.     His  record  commences  thus  :  — 

1.  Record  of  the  family  of  James  Cobb,  one  of  the  first  set- 
tlers of  Barnstable  on  Cape  Cod,  Mass.  He  married  a  Lewis, 
who,  after  his  decease,  married  a  Capt.  Sparrow,  of  Eastham  ; 
and  after  his  decease  returned  to  Barnstable  to  her  son,  James 
Cobb,  2d,  and  died  1731, "in  the  93d  year  of  her  age. 

This  description  identifies  the  James  1st,  of  my  uncle 
Le\i's  record,  with  the  Sergeant  James  Cobb  of  Mr.  Otis's 
"  History  of  Barnstable"  above  quoted,  who  was  a  son  of 
the  immigrant  Henry  Cobb. 

My  uncle's  record  continues  :  — 

2.  The  family  of  James  Cobb,  2d,  son  of  James  Cobb,  1st. 
Eis  children.  —  1st.  James,  born  in  the  town  of  Barnstable,  July 
1673,  and  died  in  Dec,  1756,  aged  84  years.  There  were  eight 
other  children  in  this  family :  but  it  is  sufficient  that  I  give  the 
name,  and  time,  and  term  of  life,  of  this  who  is  in  the  direct 
line  of  my  progenitors. 

3.  Record  of  James  Cobb,  3d,  son  of  James  Cobb,  2d.  He 
married  Elizabeth  Hallett.  He  had  seven  children,  one  of 
whom  was  Sylvanus,  born  Oct.,  1701,  and  died  Sept.  30,  1756. 

4.  Record  of  Sylvanus  Cobb^  son  of  James,  3d.  He  was 
married  to  Mercia  Baker,  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Green,  ]^ov.  7, 
1728.  He  had  seven  children,  whose  names  were  Mercia,  Eben- 
ezer,  Sylvanus,  Binney,  Rebecca,  Thankful,  Lydia. 

Ebenezer  is  in  the  direct  line  of  my  progenitors,  being 
my  father's  father. 

5.  The  family  of  Ebenezer  Cobb,  who  was  the  son  of  Sylva- 


16  JtEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,   D.D. 

nus  Cobb,  who  was  the  son  of  James  Cobb,  3d.  James,  born 
Jan.  12,  175G ;  Ebcnczer,  born  March  17,  1750 ;  Rebecca,  born 
June  5,  1761;  Isaiah,  born  Feb.  11,  1764;  Levi,  born  Feb.  13, 
1767 ;  Lydia,  born  Dec.  14,  1769 ;  Mary,  born  March  18,  1772 ; 
Anna,  born  Feb.  28,  1777. 

Of  these  Ebenezer  is  my  father. 

6.  The  family  of  Ebenezer  Cobb,  who  was  the  son  of  Eben- 
ezer, who  was  the  son  of  S3lvanus,  who  was  the  son  of  the 
third  James.  He  married  Ehzabeth  Cobb,  daughter  of  Samuel 
Cobb,  of  Carver,  Mass.  She  is  in  another  line  of  descent  from 
the  same  Elder  Henry,  who  is  my  father's  immigrant  ancestor. 

So,  then,  I  am  all  Cobb,  of  the  old  pilgrim  stock ;  the 
seventh  generation  from  the  immigrant  Henry,  by  the  line 
of  descent  embracing  my  father,  and  the  sixth  generation 
from  the  same  on  the  side  of  my  mother. 

7.  Genealogical  record  of  the  family  of  Ebenezer  Cobb, 
son  of  Ebenezer  and  Elizabeth  Cobb,  daughter  of  Samuel. 
Elizabeth,  born  Feb.  19,  1784 ;  Susanna,  born  March  22,  1788 ; 
Ebenezer,  born  April  13,  1790;  Lucy,  born  Feb.  28,  1792; 
Cyrus,  born  June  20,  1793 ;  Churchill,  born  Dec.  28,  1795 ;  Syl- 
vanus,  born  July  17,  1798 ;  Samuel,  born  Aug.  18,  1802. 

Of  this  family,  my  brother  Ebenezer  died  Nov.  25,  1820, 
aged  30  years,  5  months ;  my  father.  May  9,  1826,  aged 
67 ;  Lucy,  March  3,  1828,  aged  36,  leaving  a  small  family 
by  the  name  of  Putnam  ;  my  mother,  June  22,  1843,  aged 
83  ;  Cyrus,  by  a  fall  from  a  beam  in  his  barn,  was  instantly 
killed,  Nov.  18,  1847,  aged  54 ;  Churchill,  also,  came  to 
his  death  by  falling  from  the  mow  upon  his  barn  floor, 
March  7,  1857,  aged  62.     They  both  left  small  families. 

The  homestead,  which  had  been  considerably  enlarged 
and  improved  by  my  brother  Cyrus's  energies  and  thrift, 
was,  on  his  decease,  left  to  his  widow,  two  sons,  Cyrus  and 
Samuel,  and  two  daughters,  Lydia  and  Eliza.     Lj^dia  and 


HIS    ANCESTRY.  17 

Samuel  died  soon  after;  and  the  widow,  in  1865.  C3TUS, 
being  of  a  fragile  constitution,  disposed  of  his  share  of 
the  farm,  so  that  the  yenerable  place  has  gone  out  of  the 
family  name. 

At  the  writing  of  this,  my  sister  Elizabeth,  widow  of 
Samuel  Putnam,  is  living  in  Rumford,  Me.,  in  good  health, 
82  years  of  age,  having  been  the  mother  of  ten  children, 
most  of  whom  are  living.  My  sister  Susanna  is  living  in 
Oxford,  Me.,  with  her  husband,  Daniel  Smith,  aged  79. 
She  has  had  no  children.  My  youngest  brother  is  also 
living  in  Norway,  Me.,  62  j^ears  of  age,  in  widowerhood, 
having  buried  his  wife  and  three  daughters,  the  eldest  of 
whom  was  about  21,  and  the  youngest  14.  He  has  one 
son  living,  a  worthy  young  man,  with  a  small  family,  with 
whom  he  boards  most  of  the  time,  whose  name  is  Sylvanus 
Wait  Cobb. 

MY  MARRIAGE. 

September  10,  1822,  1  gave  my  hand  and  heart  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Eunice  Hale  Wait,  of  Hallowell,  Me.  The 
marriage  was  solemnized  by  Rev.  Eliphalet  Gillett,  pastor 
of  the  Trinitarian  Congregational  Church  in  Hallowell. 
The  ceremony  was  performed  in  the  morning,  and  I  forth- 
with took  my  lawful  wife  into  my  carriage,  and  set  off  for 
the  General  Convention  of  Universalists  for  the  New  Eng- 
land States  and  others,  to  be  held  in  Warner,  N.  H.,  on 
the  18th  and  19th  of  the  same  month.  For  a  continuation 
of  this  historical  narrative,  see  the  account  of  my  settle- 
ment in  Waterville. 
2* 


18  ItEV.    SYLVAMJS     COllli^    D.D. 

RECORD    OF   THE    FAMILY    OF    SYLVAXUS    COBB  AND  EUNICE    H. 
COBB. 

1.  S3^1vanus,  born  in  Waterville,  Me.,  June  5,  1823. 

2.  Samuel  Tucker,  June  11,  1825. 

3.  Eunice  Hale,  April  15,  1827. 

4.  Ebenezer,  in  Maiden,  Mass.,  Jan.  17,  1829. 

5.  George  Winslow,  March  31,  1831. 

G.  Sarah  Wait,  Dec.  1,  1832.  She  died  in  East  Boston, 
of  consumption,  Jan.  17,  1853,  aged  20  years,  1  month, 
and  17  daj^s.  She  passed  away  in  the  sweet  serenity  of 
Christian  hope ;  and  the  event  hardly  seemed  like  death. 
It  seemed  a  development  of  heavenly  life. 

7  and  8.  Cyrus  and  Darius,  twins,  born  in  Maiden,  Aug. 
6,  1834. 

9.  James  Arthur,  in  East  Boston,  Dec.  22,  1842.  He 
came  to  us,  a  beautiful  and  perfect  child,  as  an  unexpected 
gift  from  Heaven.  He  was  remarkable,  as  he  advanced,  for 
common  sense,  scholarship,  and  the  highest  virtues,  includ- 
ing those  of  Chi'istian  faith  and  piety.  When  he  had  passed 
his  eighth  year  there  was  discovered  a  degree  of  enlarge- 
ment of  the  heart.  The  disease  grew  upon  him,  and,  after 
considerable  suffering  with  wonderful  patience,  and  even 
cheerfulness  of  heavenly  hope,  he  passed  sweetly  away  in 
the  morning  of  Feb.  24,  1852,  aged  9  3'ears  and  2  months. 
An  interesting  memoir  of  him,  written  by  his  mother,  was 
published  in  book  form  soon  after  his  departure. 

Of  my  children,  I  will  place  on  record  here  the  following 
additional  memoranda :  — 

S3'lvanus  married  Mary  Jane  Head,  of  Waltham,  Mass., 
June  29,  1845.  They  have,  at  this  writing,  1866,  two 
children,  —  Mary  Hale,  who  is  married  to.  Oscar  R.  Ford, 
and  Ella,  about  14  years  of  age. 


HIS    ANCESTRY,  19 

Samuel  Tucker,  who  was  named  for  and  by  Commodore 
Samuel  Tucker,  of  revolutionary  memory,  whose  latter 
years  were  spent  in  Bristol,  Me.,  where  our  acquaintance 
with  him  was  intimate,  married  Sophronia  R.  Tisdale,  Oct* 
16,  1847.  They  have  three  children,  Lucy  Holmes,  Sam- 
uel Tucker,  and  Elizabeth  Hale.  They  lost  an  infant 
daughter  in  1865. 

Ebenezer  married  Mary  Jane  Booth,  of  Philadelphia,  in 
May,  1853.     They  have  two  sons,  Arthur  and  Clarence. 

George  Winslow,  who  was  named  by  Capt.  George 
Winslow,  a  dear  friend  of  ours,  of  Maiden,  Mass.,  mar- 
ried Almeda  Hall  of  East  Boston,  May  1,  1856,  by  whom 
he  has  two  children,  Albert  Winslow  and  Margart^t  White. 
They  lost  a  daughter  in  infancy.  He  served  as  a  volunteer 
in  the  army  of  the  United  States  during  the  last  year  of 
the  great  southern  slaveholders'  rebellion ;  and  soon  after 
his  return,  in  the  autumn  of  1865,  his  wife  died  of  con- 
sumption, having  been  very  feeble  several  j^ears.  He 
enlisted  into  the  army  as  a  private,  and  I'ose  shortly  to  the 
rank  of  corporal,  then  to  that  of  sergeant,  and  then  to 
sergeant-major.     He  had  severe  service. 

Eunice  Hale  married  Lafayette  Culver,  July  4,  1849, 
and  they  have  ever  continued,  thus  far,  1865,  members  of 
our  household.  Mr.  Culver,  also,  served,  for  more  than 
two  years,  in  the  army  of  the  countr3\  Enlisting  as  a 
priA^ate,  he  was  soon  promoted  to  a  lieutenancy,  and  then 
to  the  rank  of  quartermaster.  A  greater  part  of  the  time 
he  was  on  Gen.  Mott's  staff,  of  the  old  3d  Corps,  Army  of 
the  Potomac.  He  was  engaged  in  severe  conflicts  of  arms, 
but  came  out  unharmed. 

Cyrus  and  Darius,  the  twins,  married  sisters,  the  former 
Emma,  and  the  latter  Laura  Lillie.  They  were  married  at 
the  same  time,  Jan.  1,  1866,  in  the  Unitarian  Church  in 


20  REV.    SYLVANUS    COJiB,   I). I). 

East  Boston,  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Cudworth,  the  pastor,  assisted 
by  their  father.  Thej^,  too,  rendered  military  service  to 
the  country  in  the  great  civil  war  of  18G1  to  1865.  They 
led  the  family  in  this  line  of  the  citizens'  duty.  They 
enlisted  into  the  Massachusetts  44th  Regiment,  on  a  nine- 
months'  term,  in  August,  1863.  Most  of  their  term  was 
spent  in  Newbern,  N.  C.  They  were  at  Little  Washing- 
ton when  it  w^as  subjected  to  a  seventeen  days'  siege  by 
the  enemy,  and  the  access  of  Gen.  Foster's  main  army  was 
cut  off  for  that  time  ;  and  they  participated  in  several  skir- 
mishes. But  they  received  no  injurj^  So  all  the  soldier 
members  of  this  family,  though  subjected  to  hard  service 
and  engaged  in  more  or  less  severe  conflicts  of  arms,  re- 
turned home,  after  full  service,  safe  and  sound. 

In  respect  to  military  service  in  suppression  of  the  great 
pro-slavery  rebellion,  Sylvanus,  the  elder  brother,  whose 
residence  was  in  Norway,  Me.,  had  also  a  hand  in  it  in 
another  sphere.  Being  captain  of  the  Oxford  County 
Home  Guards,  a  volunteer  company  organized  to  act,  if 
necessary,  in  defence  of  that  State  against  invasion,  he 
was  ordered  by  the  Government,  in  April,  1864,  to  station 
his  company,  for  a  season,  in  Fort  McClary,  Kittery,  Me., 
where  they  were  mustered  into  the  United  States'  service. 
Here,  though  he  was  not  confronted  by  the  enemy,  he  had  a 
taste  of  military  life  and  of  the  responsibilities  of  military 
command. 

OUR   IMMIGRANT   PROGENITOR    AN    ''INDEPENDENT." 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  foregoing  that  I  trace  my  descent, 
on  m}"  father's  side,  by  a  direct  and  unbroken  line,  through 
reliable  genealogical  registrations,  from  the  immigrant 
Elder  Henry  Cobb.  And  it  appears  that  this  revered 
ancestor  was  a  genuine  son  of  liberty,  and  member  of  the 


HIS    ANCESTRY.  21 

first  Independent  Congregational  Cliurch  by  that  name  in 
the  United  States,  or  in  the  world.  The  following  account 
of  the  Church  and  pastor  to  which  he  belonged,  is  in  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Societj^'s  Records :  — 

Rev.  John  Lothrop  was  first  minister  of  Barnstable,  Cape 
Cod.  The  Church  at  Scituate  being  in  a  broken  condition,  the 
Rev.  John  Lothrop  of  that  place  removed,  with  part  of  the 
Church  (among  whom  was  Henry  Cobb),  to  Barnstable,  in  Oct., 
1639,  the  same  year  the  town  was  granted  by  the  old  colony. 
It  appears  from  the  records,  which  have  been  preserved,  that  all 
the  south  side  of  the  town  was  amicably  purchased  of  Wianno 
and  several  other  sachems,  about  1650.  The  West  Barnstable 
Church  is  the  first  Independent  Congregational  Church  of  that 
name  in  the  world.  It  was  organized  in  1616,  in  England,  in 
the  county  of  Kent,  principally  through  the  instrumentality  of 
Rev.  Henry  Jacob,  who  was  chosen  and  constituted  its  first 
pastor.  The  foundation  of  the  church  was  laid  in  the  following 
manner:  After  solemn  fasting  and  prayer,  each  made  open 
confession  of  his  faith  in  Jesus  Christ;  and  then,  standing  up 
together  they  joined  hands,  and  solemnly  covenanted  with  each 
other,  in  the  presence  of  Almiglity  God,  to  walk  together  in  all 
his  ways,  ordinances,  &c. 

On  account  of  the  violence  of  the  persecution  with  which 
this  Church  was  assailed,  their  pastor  continued  with  them  only 
eight  years,  and  then  fled  to  Virginia,  in  this  country,  where  he 
soon  after  died. 

The  Church  then  chose,  as  their  second  pastor.  Rev.  John 
Lothrop,  from  whom  descended  most  of  the  numerous  families 
of  this  name  scattered  through  our  country.  In  1632,  Mr.  Lo- 
throp and  the  little  band  to  whom  he  ministered,  when  assem- 
bled for  worship  in  a  private  building,  were  surprised  by  their 
persecutors,  and  only  eighteen  of  their  number  escaped,  while 
forty-two  were  apprehended  and  cast  into  prison.  After  being 
confined  for  two  years,  all  were  released  upon  bail,  excepting 
Mr.  Lothrop,  for  whom  no  favor  could  be  obtained.  In  the 
mean  time  his  wife  died,  and  his  children  were  left  in  such  needy 
and  distressed  circumstances,  at  length  Mr.  L.,  on  condition  of 
leaving  the  country,  obtained  his  freedom.     In  1634,  with  thir- 


22  JtEV.    SYLVAXUS     COBB,    D.D. 

t3--fonr  of  his  church  and  coiigrr*gation,  —  all  he  could  collect, — 
ho  came  to  New  England,  and  settled  in  Scituate.  At  that  time 
the  Churches  at  Plymouth,  Duxbury,  and  Marshfield,  were  all  that 
existed  in  this  country.  In  1G39,  with  a  majority  of  his  people 
and  twenty-two  male  members  of  his  church,  he  removed  to 
Barnstable,  and  commenced  its  settlement.  The  first  sermon 
was  preached  on  a  large  rock,  which  may  now  be  seen  lying  by 
the  side  of  the  road  between  East  and  West  Parishes. 


HIS    BIRTH    AND    EARLY    DAYS.  23 


HIS  BIRTH  AND  EARLY  DAYS. 


The  subject  of  these  sketches  was  born  in  Norway, 
Me.,  July  17,  1798.  My  parents,  Ebenezer  and  Eliza- 
beth Cobb,  of  whom  mention  is  made  in  the  conclusion 
of  the  preceding  chapter,  moved  from  Middleboro',  Mass., 
to  Norway,  Me.,  which  was  then  a  part  of  Massachusetts, 
in  the  autumn  of  1797.  Middleboro'  is  thirty-five  miles 
south,  and  Norway  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  north-east 
of  Boston.  Their  medium  of  conveyance  was  an  ox-wagon, 
drawn  by  a  3'oke  of  oxen,  by  which  they  shipped  whatever 
of  their  household  stuff  they  moved,  and  their  six  children, 
—  Elizabeth,  Ebenezer,  Susanna,  Cyrus,  Lucy,  and  Church- 
ill. The  roads  much  of  the  way  were  rough,  and  they  were 
sixteen  days  on  the  passage,  arriving  in  Norway,  that  part 
then  called  Rustfield,  on  the  8th  of  September.  The 
township  had  been  but  a  little  while  open  to  settlement, 
and  was  mostly  in  a  wilderness  state.  My  father  visited 
the  place  in  the  summer  of  the  preceding  year,  selected 
him  a  lot,  and  made  a  small  opening  upon  it  by  felling  the 
trees.  In  the  spring  of  this  year  he  went  down  and  burned 
and  cleared  the  opening,  and  planted  it  with  corn  and 
potatoes  ;  so  that  now,  on  moving  hither  with  his  family  in 
the  fall,  he  found  in  his  field  corn  and  potatoes  ready  for 
family  use.  He  rented  for  his  family  a  part  of  the  small 
house  of  Mr.  Zebedee  Perry,  on  an  adjoining  lot,  which  he 


24  REV,    SYLVAN  us     COBB,    D.D. 

occupied  while  building  a  house  on  his  own.  It  was  in 
Mr.  Perry's  house  that  I  was  born  the  next  July.  In  the 
succeeding  autumn  the  new  house  w^as  so  far  advanced  as 
to  be  suitable  to  receive  the  family,  and  we  occupied  it 
from  four  to  five  years.  Aug.  18,  1802,  when  I  was  four 
years  and  one  month  old,  I  greeted  a  baby -brother,  who 
received,  and  has  ever  borne,  the  name  of  Samuel ;  my 
parents'  last-born,  a  great  blessing  to  their  later  years,  and 
a  pride  and  joy  to  the  household  always.  He  is,  at  this 
writing  (1864),  m}^  only  surviving  brother,  —  the  three  be- 
fore named,  who  were  born  in  Middleboro',  having  passed 
away. 

About  this  time  my  father  saw  that  the  lot  he  bad  pur- 
chased and  built  upon  was  not  large  enough  for  the  devel- 
opment of  his  rising  family  of  sons,  and  he  sold  it,  and 
purchased  a  larger  one  about  half  a  mile  south  on  the 
same  road,  having  on  it  a  small  clearing  ;  and  forthwith  he 
put  upon  it  a  small  house  and  barn.  I  was  about  five 
3^ears  old  vvhen  we  moved  upon  the  new  place,  and  can 
remember  nothing  in  connection  with  the  removal,  except 
the  rendering  of  a  little  assistance  to  my  mother  in  carry- 
ing my  baby-brother  up  "  Great  Hill."  (The  distance 
from  the  foot  to  the  summit  of  the  hill  was  not  more  than 
two  hundred  feet ;  but  it  was  called  "  Great  Hill"  because 
it  was  the  steepest  one  in  the  neighborhood.)  Nor  have  I 
any  recollection  of  anything  in  my  experience  of  the  four 
years  of  infantile  life  on  that  first  farm,  except  the  event  of 
a  slip-down  on  the  ice  with  an  axe  on  my  shoulder,  which 
inflicted  a  severe  cut  upon  the  right  temple,  which  my 
mother  and  sisters  have  since  told  me  was  so  serious  a 
wound,  and  caused  so  profuse  a  flow  of  blood,  that  fears 
were  entertained  of  the  loss  of  life.     But  the  scar,  at  this 


HIS    BIRTH    AND    EARLY    DAYS.  25 

day,  is  much  more  distinct  than  my  recollection  of  tlie 
event. 

The  new  farm  was  variegated  with  hills,  ridges,  and 
dales,  and  meadow-brooks  and  gnshing  side-hill  springs. 
The  regnlar  rontine  of  country  life,  in  scenes  like  these, 
presented  but  few  incidents  calculated  to  make  a  strong 
impression  on  the  mind  of  childhood.  Yet  there  were  pro- 
gressive events  which  produced  in  me  lively  excitement  of 
feelings.  The  sight  of  the  tall  trees  falling  before  the 
woodman's  axe,  and  the  consequent  enlargement  of  the 
clearing ;  the  burning  of  the  felled  trees  when  dried ;  the 
sheep  washing  and  shearing ;  haying,  reaping,  and  the 
huskings,  were  all  exciting  scenes  to  the  boys  ;  and  my 
memory  of  them  extends  back  to  ver}^  early  days. 

I  very  early  became  expert  in  riding  on  horseback,  and 
had  devolved  upon  me  the  business  of  navigating  the 
cereals  to  mill,  a  distance  of  about  two  and  a  half  miles. 
The  roads  were  new  and  rough,  bridged  over  swampy 
grounds  by  logs  rolled  together,  constituting  what  were 
called  gridiron  bridges;  and  no  pleasure  carriages,  nor 
even  horse-wagons,  came  into  use  for  some  time.  The 
"  going  to  mill,"  except  in  the  sleighing  season,  was  done 
on  horseback.  My  father,  or  an  elder  brother,  would 
place  a  bag  of  Indian  corn,  another  of  rye,  and  another  of 
wheat,  across  the  saddle,  and  I  would  mount  a-top  of  the 
whole,  and  navigate  the  winding  way  up  to  the  mill  door, 
where  I  was  wont  to  be  promptly  greeted  by  the  faithful 
miller,  Samuel  Ames,  who  entered  that  first  grist-mill  in 
town  on  its  completion  in  October,  1789,  and  ground  the 
first  grist  in  it,  and  tended  it  forty-five  years.  He  would 
discharge  my  cargo,  and  replace  it  for  my  return  voyage 
when  all  was  ground.  As  my  younger  brother  was  four 
years  my  junior,  and  the  older  ones  were  capable  of  per- 


26  liEV.    SYLVAN  us     COBB,    D.D. 

forming  better  labor  on  the  fai-m,  the  milling  and  general 
choring  business  devolved  upon  me  for  several  years. 

The  first  school-teacher,  of  whom  I  have  any  recollection, 
was  Jonathan  Woodman.  Many  years  afterwards  I  had 
opportunity  to  know  him  familiarly  as  a  good  and  noble 
hearted  man.  But  my  first  im^Dressions  of  him  are  those 
which  he  imparted  with  the  palms  of  his  hands,  presuming 
thus  to  beat  knowledge  into  my  cranium.  I  was  reading 
and  spelling  in  words  of  one  and  two  S3'llables,  and  he 
would  frequently  box  my  ears  for  mistakes.  This  practice 
on  his  part  induced  in  me  the  habit  of  dodging  when  I 
feared  I  was  wrong.  "  Ah,"  he  would  exclaim,  in  such 
cases,  "  I  know  what  you  dodged  for,  j^ou  knew  what  was 
coming."  That  i^hilosophy  of  teaching  is  not  much  in 
vogue  now.  However,  Master  Woodman  lived  to  be  an 
occasional  respectful  listener  to  the  public  discoursings  of 
him  w^hose  boj^hood  he  essayed  to  educate  with  the  aid 
of  cujffs. 

Our  school  district,  situated  in  the  south-west  part  of 
the  town,  was  large.  It  was  settled  principally  by  citizens 
of  great  moral  worth,  who  reared  large  families.  And  as 
the  town  was  always  provident  of  its  schools,  and  the 
school-money  was  apportioned  to  districts  according  to  the 
numbers  of  scholars,  ours  drew  a  good  share,  and  had  long 
winter  schools.  There  was  but  little  attention  given,  how- 
ever, in  those  days,  and  in  that  backwoods  region,  to  uny 
other  branches  of  learning  except  reading,  writing,  and 
arithmetic-  But  now  and  then  one  advanced  to  the  study 
of  grammar.  In  the  winter  of  1811,  when  I  was  in  the 
thirteenth  year  of  my  age,  listening  to  the  recitations  of  a 
small  class  in  grammar,  I  became  inspired  with  the  purpose 
to  enter  upon  that  study.  Upon  entering  into  the  presence 
of  my  parents  on  my  return  from  school,  one  evening,  I 


HIS    BIRTH    AND    EARLY   DATS.  27 

said,  "Father,  I  want  a  grammar-book.  I  am  goiug  to 
study  grammar."  "  Poll !  "  was  the  response  of  the  con- 
siderate parent,  "  what  good  '11  that  do  3'ou?  If  j^ou  might 
ever  be  able  to  teach  school,  it  would  be  of  use  to  study 
grammar.  But  I  don't  suppose  you  think  of  that." 
"  Well,  I  want  to  study  grammar,"  was  the  emphatic 
reply.  And  the  essential  thing  was  furnished.  The  ele- 
mentary book  for  beginners  in  that  stud}^,  then  and  there 
in  use,  was  Bingham's  "  Young  Ladies'  Accidence."  I 
rushed  into  the  work  of  committing  to  memory  the  defini- 
tions of  parts  of  speech  and  the  rules  of  syntax,  and  apply- 
ing the  principles  by  the  exercise  of  parsing.  But  the 
school-term  was  far  spent  when  I  commenced,  and  the  rudi- 
ments were  not  thoroughl}"  committed,  nor  was  their  prac- 
tical application  well  understood. 

But  being  determined  to  master  this  science  the  next 
winter,  I  bore  the  little  grammar-book  in  my  pocket  when 
about  the  labors  of  the  field  the  next  fall,  and  while  driv- 
ing the  oxen  at  ploughing,  and  in  teaming  up  firewood  for 
the  winter,  I  committed  it  all  through,  becoming  as  famil- 
iar with  every  word  as  with  the  alphabet.  With  this 
acquisition  I  went  into  the  succeeding  school-term,  and 
found  that  the  mj^stery  of  parsing  was  a  simple  and  easy 
afi"air,  requiring,  with  so  perfect  a  knowledge  of  the  prin- 
ciples, only  a  common-sense  understanding  of  the  sentence 
assigned  as  the  lesson  for  exercise.  I  wondered  at  the 
blunders  of  the  members  of  the  senior  class,  and  was  soon 
advanced  to  their  companionship.  And  the  look  and  man- 
ner of  Master  Bethuel  Carey  are  impressed  with  great  dis- 
tinctness upon  m}^  memor}^,  as,  when  a  word  in  Pope's 
"  Essay  on  Man"  had  started  below  me,  and  passed  through 
a  series  of  blundering  guesses  to  the  foot,  he  would  queerly 
turn  his  eye  up  to  the  head  of  the  class,  with  the  inquiry, 


28  JJEV.    SYLVANUS    CODB^   D.D. 

"Well,  Cobb,  T\'bat  bave  3-011  to  say  upon  it?"  (The 
reader  will  excuse  the  egotism  of  these  recitals.  As  I  am 
the  0UI3'  living  witness  of  these  things,  and  have  under- 
taken to  record  them,  1  know  of  no  better  way  than  to 
write  trul}'.  Autobiograph}"  is  necessarily  egotism.  The 
lesson  which  these  incidents  urge  upon  the  reader  is,  the 
importance  of  giving  attention  each  to  his  appropriate 
"work,  and  doing  thoroughly  what  is  undertaken.) 

As  I  advanced"  in  m}'  teens,  I  took  great  delight  in  arith- 
metic. When  I  was  in  Equation  and  the  Roots,  pushing 
on  in  other  studies  at  the  same  time,  my  mental  labor  was 
so  earnest  and  continuous  that  my  class-mates  admon- 
ished me  that  I  must  restrict  my  studies  somewhat,  lest  I 
should  seriously  injure  m}^  health.  I  did,  by  my  contin- 
uous mental  application,  lose  flesh  somewhat,  as  they  per- 
ceived. But,  with  ni}^  strong  constitution,  and  the  inter- 
mingling of  so  much  manual  labor  as  entered  into  my 
farmer-boy  life,  there  was  no  danger  of  injury  to  my 
health. 

I  was  equally  earnest  and  industrious  in  the  work  of  the 
farm  in  its  season,  as  in  the  business  of  study  in  its  time. 
I  loved  farming.  I  loved  the  changes  of  the  seasons, 
which  are  more  interesting  to  the  farmer  than  to  fmy  other 
occupation.  I  delighted  in  planting  and  sowing  in  the 
spring ;  I  noted,  with  enthusiasm,  the  springing  up  and 
advancement  of  the  tender  blades  of  corn  and  grain.  It  was 
with  a  peculiar  zest  that  I  took  up  in  due  time,  and  swung 
the  sharpened,  well-balanced  scj^the,  and  laid  in  magnifi- 
cent windrows  the  waving  field  of  grass,  cured  the  fragrant 
hay,  and  noted  the  gradual  rising  of  the  mow  in  the  bay 
and  on  the  scaffold.  And  then  to  reap,  and  at  length 
thresh  and  winnow,  the  rich  harvest  of  rye  and  wheat ;  and 
to  gather  and  husk  the  golden  corn  ;  and  to  turn  out  from 


HIS    BIRTH  AND  EABLT    DAYS.  29 

tbeir  native  hills,  and  cart  into  the  cellar,  the  full-grown, 
mealy  potatoes; — in  all  these  progressive  exercises,  I 
found  thrilling  and  rational  enjoyment. 

I  have  spoken  of  swinging  the  sharpened,  well-balanced 
sc3'the.  I  took  great  pride  in  mowing.  In  this  polite 
accomplishment  I  became  quite  a  proficient  in  the  advanced 
stage  of  my  teens.  It  was  the  only  department  of  manual 
labor  in  which  I  would  challenge  a  competitor.  Being  tall 
in  stature,  with  broad  shoulders  and  full  chest,  —  and  par- 
ticular to  keep  a  keen  edge  upon  my  scythe,  and  all  the 
gear  symmetrical,  —  I  maintained  an  erect  posture,  and 
acquired  an  easy  swing  and  a  drawing  stroke,  cut  a  wide 
swath,  and  j^ointed  in  and  out,  leaving  the  stubble  so  even 
that  my  swaths  were  scarcely  distinguishable  when  the  hay 
was  raked  off.  I  knew  of  no  one  who  could  outstrip  me  in 
mowing.  And  I  performed  the  work  with  such  ease  to 
myself,  that  I  often  expressed  m}^  feelings  in  the  remark 
that  I  could  mow  from  breakfast  to  dinner,  in  a  tolerably 
smooth  field  of  well-grown  grass,  with  as  little  fatigue,  or 
less,*than  I  could  walk  about  the  field  the  same  length  of 
time  empty-handed. 

But  I  cannot  brag  of  my  exploits  in  any  other  branch 
of  manual  labor.  In  all  departments  I  was  diligent  and 
faithful  to  my  charge.  But  in  chopping,  especially  in 
dealing  horizontal  blows  with  the  axe  in  felling  large 
trees,  my  muscles  were  not  hard  enough  for  a  continuous 
exercise  of  the  kind.  I  soon  wearied.  In  hoeing  corn  and 
potatoes,  I  was  so  subservient  to  a  taste  for  beauty  and 
order,  and  I  was  so  particular  to  root  up  every  weed  and 
to  leave  the  hills  nice  and  regular,  and  the  rows  handsome, 
that  it  was  difficult  for  me  to  clip  along  and  keep  up  with 
my  companions.  This  predominant  taste  for  beauty  and 
order  was  once  the  occasion  of  a  gentle  reproof  fi'om  my 
3* 


30  JiEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB^   D,D, 

venerated  ftither,  the  only  one  that  I  recollect  having 
received  from  him.  I  was  then  about  fourteen  years  of 
age.  My  father  committed  to  me,  in  the  spring,  with  the 
help  of  my  younger  brother,  Samuel,  the  "  picking  up  of 
the  stones  "  on  a  field  newly  laid  down  to  grass  for  mow- 
ing. When  we  had  been  at  the  work  about  long  enough,  in 
his  estimation,  to  complete  the  job,  he  began  to  inquire 
with  regard  to  our  progress.  At  length  he  remarked,  in  a 
hesitating  tone,  as  if  he  was  reluctant  to  speak  it,  that  it 
seemed  to  him  as  if  I  had  been  "  lazy."  This  allegation 
grieved  me  sorely,  and  I  earnestly  requested  him  to  go 
and  examine  my  work.  It  "was  a  new  clearing,  some  dis- 
tance from  the  portion  of  the  farm  on  which  he  and  my 
older  brothers  were  at  the  same  time  laboring,  and  he  had 
not  visited  it  during  the  progress  of  my  work  upon  it. 
He  complied  with  my  request.  He  walked  all  over  the 
field,  saw  that  we  had  picked  up  every  stone,  down  almost 
to  the  i)ebble  size,  and,  instead  of  tossing  them  into  small 
and  irregular  heaps,  had  gathered  them  into  large  piles, 
distant  apart,  and  laid  them  up  into  handsome  pyramids ; 
and  that  we  had  picked  up  and  thrown  into  separate  heaps 
all  the  knots  and  sticks,  and  everything  which,  lying  on 
the  ground,  could  have  interrupted  the  scythe  in  the  process 
of  mowing  ;  and  he  uttered  hearty  exclamations  of  delight 
and  surprise.  He  wondered  that  we  could  have  performed 
so  much  work  in  the  time  that  we  had  spent  upon  it,  and 
expressed  regret  for  his  words  which  accused  me  of  indo- 
lence. I  speak  of  myself  as  the  subject  of  this  allegation, 
as  I  was  the  only  responsible  partj^  in  the  case,  —  my 
younger  brother  being  four  j^ears  my  junior,  a  mere 
child. 

My  father  was  able  and  faithful  to  furnish  his  family 
with  all  necessary  phj^sical  comforts,  and  the  then  common 


HIS    BTRTH  AND   EARLY    DAYS.  31 

educational  privileges.  I  do  not  remember  that  I  ever 
presented  him  a  request  that  he  did  not  grant.  But  with 
a  large  family,  on  a  new  farm,  what  produce  he  could  spare 
was  of  course  exchanged  for  "  necessaries,"  and  for  money 
to  appropriate  upon  buildings,  and  paj-ments  for  the  land. 
Spare  change  was  scarce.  And,  either  from  delicacy  or  a 
sense  of  honor,  or  from  pride,  perhaps,  I  would  not  ask  of 
him  any  special  favors.  Therefore,  along  in  those  years, 
the  earl}^  j^ears  of  my  teens,  as  I  wanted  some  books  and 
much  stationery,  beyond  the  common  school  supply,  I 
took  evening  hours,  when  the  farmers  were  at  rest  from 
their  labors,  running  sometimes  into  the  moonlight,  and 
cut  hoop-poles  in  the  neighboring  swamps,  carried  them  on 
my  shoulders  to  neighbor  Sampson,  the  cooper,  and  sold 
them  to  him  for  one  cent  apiece,  and  thus  kept  an  independ- 
ent purse  of  my  own  for  the  extra  literary  outfits. 

With  regard  to  the  "  much  stationery,"  I  scribbled  over 
a  great  deal  of  paper  with  politics.  The  Madisonian  war 
with  England  was  declared  in  June,  1812.  I  was  then  in 
my  fourteenth  year  of  age.  The  political  parties  were 
Federalists  and  Hepublicans.  The  Republicans  were,  in 
that  juncture,  the  war  party  ;  and  the  Federalists  were  in 
opposition,  to  a  considerable  degree  of  violence.  I  thought 
and  talked  and  scribbled,  both  in  poetry  and  prose,  for  the 
Republican  cause. 

That  war  proceeded  from  a  series  of  abuses  on  the  part 
of  the  British  Government.  That  Government  had  claimed 
and  exercised  the  "right  of  search,"  ^.  e.,  the  right  to 
search  American  merchant  vessels  for  deserters  from  the 
British  naval  service.  In  the  exercise  of  this  assumed 
prerogative,  many  American  citizen  sailors  were  claimed 
by  searching  officers  of  British  men-of-war,  and  dragged 
away  into  their  naval  service.     This  was,  of  course,  cause 


32  nEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

of  earnest  complaint.  Furthermore,  there  was  war  be- 
tween England  and  France.  England  passed  "  Orders  in 
Council,"  to  make  prizes  of  American  vessels  with  clear- 
ances for  a  French  port.  Then  France  followed,  with  the 
"  Berlin  and  Milan  Decrees,"  forbidding  American  trade 
in  English  ports.  At  length,  after  repeated  unavailing 
remonstrances,  our  President  made  proclamation  that,  after 
a  given  date,  the  interference  with  our  merchant  vessels  by 
either  of  those  parties  would  be  taken  by  the  American 
Government  to  be  an  act  of  war.  France  repealed  her 
"Decrees,"  but  England  persisted  in  the  execution  of  her 
"  Orders  in  Council,"  and  the  American  Congress  declared 
the  position  of  England  to  be  that  of  a  belligerent  in  a 
state  of  war.  This  act  of  the  Government  commended 
itself  to  my  judgment ;  and,  child  that  I  was,  I  could  not 
vote,  but  my  voice  and  my  pen  were  active  in  the  support 
of  my  Government,  and  the  honor  of  my  country ;  and  I 
cut  hoop-poles,  and  backed  them  over  to  my  neighbor 
Sampson,  to  purchase  stationery  for  this  and  other  uses. 

RELIGIOUS    EXPERIENCE. 

In  relation  to  the  interests  of  religion,  I  was  early 
educated  into  the  doctrines  of  Calvinism,  as  propounded 
in  the  "  Westminster  Catechism."  My  mother  exercised  me 
in  the  lessons  of  that  catechism,  and  the  preaching  which 
I  heard  in  my  childhood  was  mostly  Calvinist  Baptist, 
which  was  held  forth  in  the  school-house  of  my  district. 
Sometimes  I  would  go  to  the  Congregationalist  meeting  at 
the  centre  of  the  town,  a  wallv  of  two  miles. 

There  was  a  Universalist  societ}^  formed,  and  meeting- 
house built,  in  Norwa}^  Village,  very  soon  after  the  settle- 
ment of  the  town.  Henry  Rust,  Esq.,  from  Salem,  Mass., 
the  proprietor  of  the  south  half  of  the  township,  called 


HIS    BIRTH   AND    EARLY    DAYS.  33 

RiTstfield,  and  Ms  sons  Henry  and  Joseph,  who  moved 
with  him  npon  his  purchase  here,  were  UniA'ersalists  of  the 
John  Murray  school.  And  they  early  led  off  in  the  forma- 
tion of  a  Universalist  society,  and  in  the  erection  of  a 
small  meeting-house  near  their  mills,  where  soon  there 
arose  a  village.  Some  of  the  principal  of  the  early  set- 
tlers of  Paris  joined  in  this  organization. 

Rev.  Thomas  Barnes,  whose  residence  was  in  Poland, 
about  sixteen  miles  distant,  by  regular  engagement 
preached  for  this  society  one  Sunday  in  each  month,  from 
1798  to  near  the  time  of  his  decease,  which  was  in  1816. 
Rev.  Isaac  Root  alternated  with  Father  Barnes  in  the  occu- 
pancy of  this  pulpit  several  seasons ;  and  other  Univer- 
salist ministers  preached  there  occasionally.  Rev.  William 
Farwell,  of  Vermont,  visited  Norway  on  occasional  circuits 
made  on  horseback.  Rev.  Sebastian  Streeter  taught  the 
district  school  in  Norway  Village  in  the  winter  of  1806-7, 
and  preached  there  every  other  Sabbath  during  the  school 
term.  These  meetings  my  father  usually  attended,  riding 
horseback,  for  he  had  no  carriage  in  those  days  of  "  grid- 
iron bridges ; "  but,  it  being  nearly  three  miles  from  the 
homestead  to  the  Universalist  meeting,  I  seldom  attended 
it.  As  I  have  said  above,  I  was  exercised  by  my  revered 
and  morally  faultless  mother,  in  the  lessons  of  the  "  West- 
minster Catechism,"  and  usually  attended  the  Baptist 
meeting  at  my  district  school-house.  From  these  sources, 
and  from  the  general  religious  conversation  which  I  heard, 
my  mind  was  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  doctrine  of  fu- 
ture endless  torments.  I  believed  in  the  hell  of  sulphu- 
reous flames,  as  averred  by  the  popular  creeds,  as  really 
and  literally  as  I  believed  in  the  existence  of  any  i:)lace 
whatever  on  historical  evidence  ;  as,  for  instance,  of  Lon- 
don or  Paris,  or  Boston,  even,  which  then  was  to  me  but  a 


34  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

historical  fact.  And  this  belief,  with  my  meditativo 
habits,  inflicted  more  or  less  of  torture  upon  m}^  sensitive 
nature  dail}',  from  as  earl}^  in  childhood  as  I  can  remember 
an3'thing  distinctly,  to  the  influx  into  my  soul  of  heavenly 
light,  of  which  I  shall  speak  shortly.  It  often  rendered 
me  very  miserable.  Frequentl}^,  when  I  retired  to  bed  at 
night,  my  mind  would  be  agitated  by  as  tremulous  a  fear 
as  it  could  have  been  if  we  were  living  on  the  border  of  a 
wilderness  swarming  with  savage  tribes  in  an  Indian  war, 
likely  to  rush  upon  us  anj^  night  with  murderous  rage.  I 
might  die  before  morning,  and  then  a  plunge  into  hell 
would  be  my  doom.  And  this  fear  of  hell  was  not  from 
the  conviction  of  an}^  vicious  habit.  I  meant  to  be  a 
good  boy.  I  thought  I  was  a  good  boy.  And  this 
was  the  general  opinion.  But  I  had  human  nature,  with 
which  I  was  born.  And  for  the  reason  of  my  having 
been  born  with  human  nature  I  was,  according  to  the 
creed,  primarily  and  legitimately  an  heir  of  hell,  from 
which  I  could  only  be  saved  b}^  a  change  of  nature.  And 
this  change  was  God's  work..  While  trembling  in  the 
agitation  of  the  most  horrible  fear  of  hell,  I  had  no  re- 
course available  for  relief;  for  I  was  human;  human 
nature  was  the  source  of  my  danger,  and  I  could  neither 
put  human  nature  off  nor  change  it.  I  could  only  worry 
myself  asleep  into  troublous  dreams.  I  was  faintly  hoping 
that,  some  time  before  I  should  die,  the  necessary  "  change 
of  nature,"  or  "  experience  of  religion,"  would  take  place, 
not  by  the  educational  culture  of  the  rational  and  moral 
nature,  but,  unaccountably,  as  one  catches  a  contagious 
distemper. 

When  I  was  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age,  as  I  well 
remember,  I  spent  an  autumnal  evening  at  a  juvenile 
social  party  at  the  house   of  Mr.   Benjamin  Herring,  in 


HIS    BIRTH   AND    EARLY   DATS.  35 

whose  parlor  was  suspended  a  framed  picture  of  hell.  Mr. 
Herring  was  a  Universalist ;  but  the  picture  belonged  to 
his  mother,  to  whom  it  was  presented  by  a  friar  in 
Canada.  It  represented  a  deep  pit  filled  with  flame,  in 
the  sides  of  which  were  various  chasms,  in  which  lay 
human  forms  broiling  in  agonj^,  with  ugly  serpents  coiled 
around  their  bodies  and  thrusting  their  heads  down  their 
throats.  On  the  brink  of  the  fiery  pit  stood  a  form  de- 
signed to  represent  the  Supreme  Judge,  plunging  men  and 
women  headforemost  into  the  pit ;  and  at  different  stages 
below  stood  infuriated  devils,  God's  workmen,  with  long, 
ugly  pronged  pitchforks,  on  which  they  were  catching  the 
victims  as  the}^  descended,  and  tossing  them  down  to  the 
next  below.  I  examined  the  picture  with  intense  emotion  ; 
and,  when  I  had  turned  from  it,  the  very  horrible  in  its 
influence  would  draw  me  back  to  another  lingering  gaze 
upon  it.  And  what  gave  power  to  its  influence  on  my 
feelings  was  the  fact  that,  to  my  mind,  that  picture  was  as 
trul}^  a  representation  of  a  fact  as  any  map  in  my  school 
atlas  was  a  representation  of  a  real  place.  On  my  way 
home  that  hell  filled  my  mind,  and  I  knew  not  how  I 
went.  It  hardly  permitted  sleep  that  night ;  and  what 
it  did  give  place  to  was  not  balmy  sleep  to  soothe  the 
weary  spirit. 

And  now,  with  regard  to  the  moral  influence  of  this 
slavish  fear,  I  am  sure  that  it  never  restrained  a  wrong  or 
improper  act,  nor  inspired  a  good  and  noble  thought,  dis- 
position, or  deed.  The  creeds  did  not  impress  me  with  the 
thought  that  it  was  by  this  or  that  course  of  conduct  that  I 
should  expose  myself  to  endless  burnings ;  but  I  was 
described  as  suspended  over  the  fiery  pit  on  a  brittle  hair, 
the  slender  thread  of  life,  by  reason  of  being  an  uncon- 
verted person,  or,  as  before  exiDressed,  for  having  the  birth- 


36  BEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

gift  of  human  nature.  I  am  conscious  that  the  influence 
of  this  doctrine  upon  me  was  evil,  only  evil,  and  that 
continually.  While  it  never  restrained  a  wrong,  or  an 
impropriety  of  conduct,  it  orphanized  me  of  my  Father  in 
heaven.  It  disabled  me  of  the  power  to  exercise  pleasant 
and  grateful  and  ennobling  views  of  God.  I  possessed  a 
sensitive  nature,  tenderly  susceptible  ;  and  often  the  beauties 
of  God's  works  and  munificence  of  his  providence  would 
instinctively  affect  me  with  sentiments  of  gratitude  and 
love.  But  whenever  I  would  pass  into  religious  contempla- 
tions, all  was  blackness  and  darkness  and  tempest. 

But  my  reason  was  not  passive,  nor  was  my  moral  sense 
buried  in  inertia.  While  the  force  of  early  education 
and  of  surrounding  influences  impressed  my  mind  with  the 
doctrine  of  endless  torments  in  hell  as  unquestionably 
true,  my  intellect  quarrelled  with  its  absurdities,  and  my 
moral  sense  with  its  barbarity.  My  profound  reverence 
for  the  Infinite  name  was  greatly  and  painfully  embar- 
rassed with  the  impossibility  of  harmonizing  this  doctrine 
with  any  just  conception  of  honor  and  right  in  the  self- 
existent  and  Almighty  Creator  and  Governor  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  with  the  moral  attributes  which  all  agreed  in 
ascribing  to  the  Deity.  The  common  effort  for  removing 
the  difficulty,  afforded  no  relief  to  my  mind.  It  was  this  : 
not  that  God  created  any  portion  of  mankind  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  their  existence  an  endless  curse  to  them- 
selves (this  figment  of  Calvinism  was  generally  repudi- 
ated by  verbal  protestation,  however  it  might  be  logically 
involved  in  the  doctrines  yet  adhered  to)  ;  but  that  they 
should  be  infinitely  happy  or  miserable,  as  they  should 
make  themselves  by  the  use  of  the  agency  he  gives  them, 
in  the  midst  of  the  counteracting  circumstances  upon  which 
he  throws  them.     This  explanation,  which  was  intended  to 


HIS    BIRTH   AND    EARLY   DAYS.  37 

vindicate  the  Divine  character,  seemed  to  me,  first,  if  ad- 
mitted as  valid,  shamefully  to  dishonor  God  ;  but,  sec- 
ondl}",  to  be  invalid  from  its  assumption  of  an  impossibility. 
First,  the  explanation,  if  admitted  to  be  valid,  involves 
the  irreverent  assumption,  destructive  of  all  human  confi- 
dence and  hope,  that  God  created  man  without  a  purpose  ; 
that  the  superior  creation,  the  universe  of  created  minds 
sharing  God's  own  immortality,  and  crowned  with  his 
eternity,  were  thrown  out  into  being  by  a  sport  of  power, 
and  tossed  upon  the  eddying  tide  of  time,  with  no  great 
purpose,  no  Divine  arrangement,  as  to  what  they  should 
be,  or  in  w^hat  manner  their  wonderful  capabilities  should 
be  ultimately  employed,  whether  to  the  production  of 
infinite  good  or  infinite  evil.  This  seemed  to  me  to 
undeify  Jehovah,  by  imputing  to  him  a  species  of  folly 
which  would  belittle  even  the  least  of  men.  For  if  a  man 
were  to  be  found  expending  great  effort  and  labor,  without 
a  plan  or  purpose,  he  would  be  regarded  as  idiotic  or 
insane.  But,  secondly,  this  explanation  is  invalid  by  rea- 
son of  the  impossibility  of  its  main  assumption.  They 
who  prefer  the  apologetic  explanation,  believe  in  the  in- 
finite prescience  of  the  Deity,  —  that,  when  he  created  man, 
all  the  results  of  human  existence  were  present  to  his  view. 
Of  course,  it  was  of  his  own  choice  that  he  called  man  forth 
from  nonentity  into  being ;  and,  doing  this  in  perfect 
knowledge  of  the' result,  he  intended  that  result.  Accord- 
ingl}^,  it  appeared  to  me  that  the  effort  of  Arminianism  to 
harmonize  with  the  infinite  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God,  a 
system  of  creation  and  government  producing  and  immor- 
talizing a  race  of  intelligent  beings  for  unending  torment, 
is  only  a  mystification.  I  could  find  no  rest  there.  In 
passing  hither. and  yonder  from  one  modification  of  endless 
miserianism  to  another  for  rest  and  satisfaction,  my  case 
4 


38  UEV.    STLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

was  as  that  described  by  the  prophet,  "As  if  a  man  did 
flee  from  a  lion,  and  a  bear  met  him ;  or  went  into  the 
house  and  leaned  his  hand  on  the  wall,  and  a  serpent  bit 
him." 

My  mind  was  exercised  on  these  difficulties  with  inten- 
sive labor.  The  preachers  called  them  mysteries.  But  it 
was  not  as  mysteries  that  they  troubled  me  ;  for  a  mystery 
in  divine  truth  is  only  that  which  is  secret  or  unknown, 
which  will  commend  itself  to  the  reason  and  moral  sense  as 
fast  as  it  becomes  revealed.  But  the  dogmas  which  so 
embarrassed  and  perplexed  me  involved  moral  principles, 
of  which  the  mind  of  man  is  capable  of  judging  ;  and  of 
which  we  must  form  an  enlightened  judgment  if  we  would 
be  capable  of  rendering  to  God  acceptable  praise.  Praise 
signifies  approval,  commendation.  In  order  to  render 
such  praise  to  God,  we  must  be  enlightened  into  such 
knowledge  of  God's  character  and  of  the  principles  and 
purposes  of  his  government  as  shall  commend  the  whole 
to  our  reason  and  conscience  as  just  and  good.  But  the 
creeds  by  which  my  sensitive  mind  was  shackled,  ascribed 
the  Satanic  principle  to  the  Divine  administration  particu- 
larly in  its  judicial  and  executive  departments,  making 
punishment  to  be  a  final  destiny  of  evil  instead  of  a  means 
of  discipline  to  a  beneficent  end.  The  ministry  of  the 
churches  all  around  me  was  a  conglomeration  of  the  irrec- 
oncilable principles  of  Calvinism  and  Arminianism.  The 
former  asserted  that  the  Creator  originally  purposed  the 
endless  damnation  of  countless  millions  of  his  children. 
The  latter  denounced  this  as  a  blasphemous  imputation  of 
infinite  malignity  to  the  Deitj^,  yet  it  ascribed  to  the 
Divine  sj^stem  of  creation  and  government  the  same  horrid 
result.  And  how,  my  anxious  mind  persistently  inquired, 
how  should  it  so   eventuate?     If  God,    as   Arminianism 


HIS    BIRTH  AND   EARLY    DAYS.  39 

insisted,  was  infinitely  good  and  well-wishing,  and  the  cre- 
ation of  the  human  race  was  a  motion  of  the  Divine  good- 
ness, w^ith  the  view  to  raise  up  a  gi-eat  family  of  children 
to  be  sharers  with  himself  of  infinite  felicity  and  blessed- 
ness, how  should  the  result  be  so  fearfully  different,  in- 
stead of  the  divinely  wished-for  and  intended  scene  of 
ultimate  and  universal  moral  beauty  and  blessedness,  pre- 
senting the  alleged  remediless  scene  of  moral  desolation 
and  ruin?  Of  course,  it  must  involve  the  failure  and  disap- 
pointment of  the  Deit}^  in  the  interests  of  his  superior 
creation.  Then  the  knowledge  of  the  Deity  must  be  lim- 
ited ;  for  infinite  prescience  could  not  be  disappointed. 
And  the  same  view  limits  the  ability  of  the  Deity,  repre- 
senting him  as  eternally  unable  to  realize  his  highest 
wishes  and  intentions  in  the  noblest  department  of  his  cre- 
ation. Verily,  the  ways  of  the  churches  were  labyrinthian 
Avays.  Often  I  would  sit  musing  upon  the  mountain-top, 
and,  surveying  the  broad  expanse  before  me,  recognizing 
the  wisdom  and  power  and  purpose  of  God  in  the  vast 
physical  system  of  creation  and  government ;  and  then  my 
soulVould  refuse  to  acknowledge,  as  the  truth  of  God,  the 
theological  dogmas  which  represented  the  superior  creation 
as  thrown  out  upon  chaos  without  a  purpose,  and  aban- 
doned of  the  government  of  the  Creator. 

THE    CONVERSION. 

I  was  now,  in  the  autumn  of  1813,  in  the  IGth  year  of 
my  age.  My  mind  was  in  an  agonj^  of  travail  for  deliver- 
ance from  the  Jiadean  darkness  and  tartarean  perplexity  of 
human  theologies.  On  one  Sunday  afternoon  a  young 
Baptist  preacher  held  a  lecture  in  the  house  of  our  nearest 
neighbor,  Willis  Sampson,  which  I  attended.     His  text 


40  hev.  sylvanus   cobb,  t>.d. 

was  Mark  xvi.  15,  16  :  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.  He  that  believe th  and 
is  baptized  shall  be  saved  ;  but  he  that  believeth  not  shall 
be  damned."  The  preacher,  according  to  the  usual  custom, 
involved  the  subject  in  utter  confusion,  confounding  the 
gospel,  or  subject  of  faith,  and  the  fruit,  or  reward  of  faith, 
all  together.  When  his  regular  services  were  concluded, 
while  a  portion  of  the  audience  yet  remained,  I,  though 
naturally  diffident,  approached  the  preacher  for  inquiry, 
when  the  following  colloquy  ensued  :  — 

Sylvanus.  Sir,  I  have  listened  to  you  with  earnest 
attention,  but  am  unable  to  understand  you.  You  have 
said  much  about  the  gospel,  and  about  believing  and  being 
saved,  and  the  like.  Now  I  desire  you  to  inform  me  what 
I  must  believe  in  order  to  be  saved. 

Minister.     Believe  the  ti:uth. 

S.     What  is  the  truth? 

M.     It  is  the  gospel. 

iS.    What  is  the  gospel  ?  • 

M.  Why,  this  is  the  gospel :  "  He  that  believeth  and  is 
baptized  shall  be  saved  ;  but  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be 
damned." 

JS.     He  that  believeth  ivhat  shall  be  saved  ? 

M.     The  truth. 

JS.     What  is  the  truth? 

3f.     It  is  the  gospel. 

JS.     What  is  the  gospel  ? 

M.  Wh}^  I  have  told  you.  *'  He  that  believeth  shall 
be  saved,"  &c. 

JS.     He  that  believeth  what? 

And  so  we  ran  round  and  round  in  a  circle,  getting  at  no 


HIS    BIRTH    AND    EARLY    DAYS.  41 

starting-point,  no  definite  truth  upon  which  for  faith  to 
take  hold.  The  gospel  itself,  which  is  the  truth  revealed 
as  the  subject  of  faith,  was  made  to  consist  in  the  an- 
nounced fruit  of  faith,  which  follows  and  cannot  precede 
the  exercise  of  faith.  I  needed  what  I  could  not  obtain 
from  that  source,  —  a  clear  statement  of  the  truth  to  be 
believed,  which  must  exist  and  be  revealed  before  faith, 
constituting  the  substance  for  faith  to  gTasp,  and  the  basis 
upon  which  it  shall  rest. 

Soon  afterwards  I  went  over  to  my  neighbor  Sampson's, 
who  was  a  Baptist  exhorter,  to  obtain  from  him  an  expla- 
nation of  some  of  the  abounding  difficulties.  I  pressed 
him  with  the  disharmony  of  the  parts  of  the  popular  creed 
with  one  another,  and  of  all  parts  with  the  teachings  of 
the  New  Testament.  I  had  made  myself  familiar  with  the 
prominent  doctrinal  teachings  of  the  New  Testament ;  and 
the  obvious  violence  and  futility  of  his  efforts  to  force  those 
divine  teachings  into  harmony  with  his  creed,  opened  to 
m}^  mind  more  and  more  clearly  their  true  significance, 
spirit,  and  power.  We  continued  in  earnest  discussion 
from  early  in  the  evening  to  two  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
during  the  process  of  which  my  mind  took  fast  hold  upon 
the  great  fundamental  truths  of  the  gospel,  such  as  the 
universal  Fatherhood  of  God,  and  his  purpose  of  immortal 
life  and  good  in  Christ  for  the  rational  creation,  to  be  con- 
summated "  in  the  dispensation  of  the  fulness  of  times."* 
I  had  no  sectarian  name  for  this  frame  of  mind.  It  was  a 
state  of  rest  in  the  Lord  through  faith  in  his  Word.  Hav- 
ing been  for  3'ears  enveloped  in  the  fog  of  mysticism  and 
confusion,  vainly  striving  to  create  a  truth  by  believing 
without  a  truth,  and  to  construct  a  foundation  of  faith  by 

*  Epla.  i.  10. 
4* 


42  nEV.    SYLVANUS     COBBy    D.D. 

a  mock  faith  without  foundation,  how  ehate  w\as  my  soul 
and  ecstatic  mj  jo}^  on  coming  into  the  light  of  God's  own 
eternal  truth,  "  not  according  to  our  works,  but  according 
.to  his  own  purpose  and  grace  which  was  given  us  in  Christ 
Jesus  before  the  world  began  ;  but  is  now  made  manifest  by 
the  appearing  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  abol- 
ished death  and  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light 
through  the  gospel."* 

Then,  no  longer  agonizing  in  the  futile  effort  to  make  my 
faith  to  rest  upon  itself,  I  could  adopt,  with  a  zest,  the 
royal  poet's  strain  :  "  I  waited  patiently  for  the  Lord  ;  and 
he  inclined  unto  me  and  heard  my  cry.  He  brought  me 
up  also  out  of  an  horrible  pit,  out  of  the  miry  clay,  and  set 
my  feet  upon  a  rock,  and  established  my  goings.  And  he 
hath  put  a  new  song  into  my  mouth,  even  praise  unto  our 
God."  t 

That  was  a  clear  autumnal  night.  And  when  I  walked 
home,  two  hours  past  midnight,  the  starry  heavens  smiled 
down  upon  me,  and  the  air  seemed  fragrant  with  the  love 
of  God.  I  had  no  conception  of  the  "  is7n"  under  which 
the  world  would  class  me,  but  I  confided  the  government 
of  the  universe  to  the  infinite  Wisdom,  and  rested  its 
immortal  interests  upon  the  arm  of  almighty  Goodness. 
My  soul  was  at  rest,  and  the  world  seemed  a  new  world, 
radiant  with  the  infinite  Father's  presence.  I  ivas  horn 
again.  That  night  my  sleep  was  sweet  and  refreshing,  as 
I  rested  upon  the  guardianship  of  the  great  Father's  love, 
as  the  confiding  infant  upon  its  mother's  bosom.  The 
troublous  dreams  of  hideous  devils  grinning  round  my  bed, 
which  used  to  disturb  my  sleeping  hours,  annoyed  me  not 
that  night,  and  since  have  annoyed  me  never. 

*  2  Tim,  i.  9,  10.  t  Psalms  xi.  1-3. 


HIS    BIRTH    AND    EARLY    DAYS.  43 

The  next  morniDg  mj  neighbor  Sampson's  apprentice, 
John  Millett,  3d,  called  upon  me,  and  reported  that  his 
master  regarded  my  part  of  the  night's  discussion  as  an 
earnest  argument  for  Universalism.  But  he  supposed  that 
my  object  was,  not  to  vindicate  that  doctrine,  but  to  draw 
from  him  explanations  of  the  difficult  points  and  the  Scrip- 
ture passages  presented.  I  told  my  friend  Millett  that  he 
might  assure  his  master  from  me  that  whatever  I  affirmed  on 
the  preceding  evening  I  religiously  believed.  I  knew  not 
what  to  call  it  but  God's  truth  ;  and  if  that  was  Universal- 
ism, I  was  tJiere^  there  now  and  forever.  Yes,  on  study 
and  reflection  I  found  myself  there  ;  and  it  was,  and  is,  and 
is  to  be,  Universalism  ;  "  Christ  the  power  of  God  and 
the  wisdom  of  God  ;  "  *  the  peace  of  God  in  the  soul.  I 
w^as  full  of  faith  and  love  and  zeal.  I  could  not  "  silence 
bear."  I  must  needs  communicate  my  glorious  discoveries 
to  my  J^oung  associates,  and  share  to  them  my  fulness  of 
joy.  My  sj^mpath}^  for  fellow-beings  was  doubtless  more 
aglow  for  my  conception  of  the  infinite  fulness  of  the 
Saviour's  love.  Nevertheless,  a  marked  characteristic  of 
all  Christian  converts  is  a  broad  and  lively  sympathy  for 
fellow-beings.  Even  when  they  bring  with  them  the  preju- 
dice of  a  false  religious  education,  which  robs  the  Father 
and  the  Son  of  the  beauty  of  universal  love,  on  first  receiv- 
ing Christ  as  their  Saviour  they  come  into  such  a  nearness 
to  him  as  to  receive  the  impress  of  his  Spirit,  which  is 
impartial  love.  Accordingly  all  their  hatred  of  man  is 
gone,  and  they  ardently  desire  that  all  others  may  see  with 
them  the  beauty,  and  feel  the  joower  of  Heaven's  love. 
This  is  the  spirit  of  every  babe  in  Christ,  every  subject  of 
the  new  birth.     It  is  the  spirit  of  heaven.     Accordingly 

1  Cor.  i.  24. 


44  BEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    B.D. 

the  nngels  of  God  in  lieaA^en,  in  their  ever-glowing  sym- 
path}'  for  the  whole  moral  creation,  experience  a  thrill  of 
jo}'  from  ever^^  step  of  human  advancement  in  knowledge, 
purity,  and  blessedness.  What  an  appalling  decay  of  the 
spiritual  life  must  the  convert  suffer  when  he  shall  essay  to 
assure  his  soul  of  happiness  in  heaven,  in  view  of  the  end- 
less sufferings  of  his  friends  and  fellow-beings ;  with  the 
conception  that  he  shall  then  and  there  be  so  like  God,  so 
free  from  the  weaknesses  of  human  nature,  that  he  wdll  be 
utterly  indifferent  to  the  allotment  of  others,  and  callous 
to  sympathetic  emotions  !  Ah,  he  mistakes  the  satanic  for 
the  Godly  spirit.  "  God  is  love,"  and  "  he  that  dwelleth 
in  love  dwelleth  in  God,  and  God  in  him."  The  more  we  be- 
come like  God  the  more  perfectly  shall  we  lose  our  selfish- 
ness and  forget  self  in  deathless  love  for  our  fellow-beings. 
And  it  is  because  of  the  contact  of  the  new-born  soul  with 
this  pervading  spirit  of  Heaven,  that  he  is  filled  with  love 
to  all  mankind.  How  sad  it  is  that  this  moral  beauty  of  • 
the  soul  should,  in  numerous  instances,  become  marred  by 
the  strivings  of  satanic  theologies.  It  is  a  cruel  training 
through  which  the  new-born  child  of  God  is  forced  to  pass 
when  it  adjusts  itself  to  the  stays  and  skewers  and  lacings 
and  thumb-screws  of  endless  miserian  theologies.  How 
grievously  marred  is  its  spiritual  beauty  by  the  distor- 
tions of  this  process. 

I  was  now  in  the  light  and  liberty  of  "the  glorious  gos- 
pel of  the  blessed  God."  And  from  the  day  of  my  deliv- 
erance from  the  prison-house  of  darkness,  there  has  never 
been  an  occasion  which  tempted  me  to  deny  the  faith,  or 
even  to  prevaricate  with  regard  to  the  fulness  of  my  con- 
victions of  Christian  truth.  When  I  was  in  the  company 
of  the  learned  and  fashionable  of  different  sentiments,  I 
should  have  been   ashamed   of  myself,   regarding   it   as 


JSIS    DIETS    AND    EARLY    DATS.  45 

depreciative  of  my  understanding,  to  have  it  understood 
that  I  entertained  the  contrary  opinion.  Universalism 
appeared  to  me  to  be  so  clearly  the  outspoken  word  of 
God,  and  commended  itself  so  perfectly  to  m}^  rational 
nature  and  moral  judgment,  that,  in  all  circles  of  societ}',  I 
regarded  it  as  most  creditable  to  myself  to  be  known  as 
holding  it.  In  the  ingenuous  profession  of  it  I  invested 
my  respectability.  This  habit  of  thinking,  feeling,  and 
acting,  on  my  part,  brought  me  into  very  frequent  contro- 
versial discussions  with  devotees  to  other  doctrines  —  clergy 
and  laity.  Thus  was  I  exercised  from  the  beginning,  in 
the  Christian  warfare,  which  necessitated  a  familiar  and 
earnest  study  of  the  Scriptures,  and  comparative  analysis 
of  doctrines. 


During  the  ensuing  winter,  Dec,  1813,  to  March,  1814, 
advancing  me  the  months  from  the  preceding  July  in  my 
sixteenth  year,  I  attended,  as  usual,  the  district  school, 
which,  this  term,  was  taught  by  Rev.  Noah  Cressey,  the 
pastor  of  the-  Congregational  church  of  Norway.  Mr. 
Cressey  was  an  excellent  teacher  ;  and  I  vigorously  pushed 
on  my  studies  in  the  English  branches  of  literature  and 
science  under  his  instruction. 

At  the  close  of  the  school  term  in  the  spring  of  1814,  I 
returned  to  the  assistance  of  my  father  in  the  robust  pro- 
fession of  farming.  The  war  with  England  continued. 
My  oldest  brother,  Ebenezer,  was  a  volunteer  in  the  United 
States  service,  in  the  division  of  the  armj^  stationed  on 
Lake  Champlain.  My  next  younger  brother,  Cyrus,  had 
passed  into  the  era  of  legal  freedom,  and  was  at  work  out 
on  his  own  account.  One  brother  who  was  my  senior  in 
age,  Churchill,  then  in  his  nineteenth  year,  was  with  us  at 


46  JtEV.    SYLVANUS     CODJi^    D.D. 

home,  and  also  the  youngest  of  the  famil}^,  Samuel,  in  his 
thirteenth  3'ear.  My  father  took  the  "Eastern  Argus,"  the 
first  newspaper  I  ever  saw,  a  weekly  paper  published  in 
Portland,  in  the  Republican  interest.  No  daily  paper  was 
then  published  in  Maine.  We  eagerly  looked  for  the  com- 
ing of  the  "  Argus  "  every  Saturday,  for  the  war  news.  And 
as  my  father's  sight  had  become  somewhat  dim,  he  usually 
seated  himself  the  first  leisure  hour  after  the  arrival  of  the 
paper  (and  that  was  generally  to/je?!  at  once),  and  devolved 
upon  me  the  service  of  reading  all  the  war  news  aloud.  By 
this  means  I'became  very  practically  familiar  with  the  art 
of  reading. 

As  autumn  approached,  we  had  reports  of  a  large  British 
war  fleet  lying  off  the  Atlantic  coast,  in  a  position  to 
pounce  upon  either  of  our  Atlantic  cities  which  its  com- 
manders might  choose.  Gov.  Caleb  Strong,  who  had 
refused  to  call  out  the  militia  of  the  State,  or  a  detachment 
thereof,  upon  the  order  of  President  Madison,  now  made  a 
large  draft  of  the  Massachusetts  militia,  and  ordered  them 
to  the  defence  of  the  sea-board.  Maine  was  then  a  province 
of  Massachusetts.  In  September,  our  entire  regiment,  of 
Oxford  County,  was  mustered,  and  marched  to  Portland. 
After  two  weeks  a  draft  was  made,  and  both  of  my  brothers 
who,  besides  Ebenezer,  who  was  a  volunteer  in  the  armj^, 
were  liable,  b}^  age,  to  military  duty,  were  drafted  for  an 
indefinite  time  to  remain  in  the  defence  of  Portland.  This 
took  away  Churchill,  who  was  with  us  on  the  farm,  and 
left  the  "  fall  work,"  as  circumstances  were,  to  myself,  in 
my  seventeenth  year,  and  Samuel  in  his  thirteenth  3^ear  of 
age.  As  circumstances  were,  I  have  said  ;  for  father  was 
confined  to  the  house  a  considerable  portion  of  the  time, 
by  a  painful  inflammation  in  one  of  his  eyes.  And  Samuel 
also  was  disabled  for  labor  a  portion  of  the  time,  by  a 


niS    BIRTH   AND    E  J  ELY   DAYS.  47 

typhus  fever,  thus  leaving  me  quite  alone.  But  I  suc- 
ceeded with  what  help  Samuel  was  able  to  render  me,  to 
harvest  two  acres  of  corn  and  two  acres  of  potatoes  ;  and 
to  "break  up"  a  lot  of  greensward  for  planting  the  next 
spring.  Assistance  for  the  latter  job,  the  "  breaking  up," 
I  obtained  from  a  neighbor.  Deacon  Herring,  upon  the 
system  w^ell  known  among  farmers  as  "  changing  work." 

In  October,  we  learned  that  my  brother  Churchill,  in 
camp  at  Portland,  w^as  on  the  sick-list.  I  procured  a  light 
wagon  of  Mr.  Levi  Bartlett  at  the  village  (for  not  many 
farmers  had  that  luxury  in  those  days) ,  harnessed  to  it  the 
old  red  mare,  put  in  a  bag  each  of  corn  and  wheat,  and 
ever-so-many  packages  of  pies  from  the  mothers  of  the 
neighborhood  for  their  sons  in  camp,  and  away  I  w^ent  to 
Portland  (forty-five  miles)  to  market  said  cereals,  feed  the 
boys  with  dainties,  and  put  myself  into  the  army  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  my  sick  brother,  and  send  him  home  with  the 
team.  The  first  day's  ride  carried  me  to  Major  Cobb's 
tavern  in  Gray,  within  fifteen  miles  of  Portland,  where  I 
put  up  for  the  night.  In  the  morning  the  Major  bade  me 
welcome  to  the  night's  entertainment  of  self  and  horse, 
ascribing  his  liberality  partly  to  his  respect  for  my  father, 
whom  he  knew,  and  partly  to  the  public  interest  of  my 
mission.  And  he  sent  a  cash  order  by  me  to  his  grocer  in 
Portland,  for  a  few  light  articles  of  merchandise. 

On  entering  the  strange  and  branching  streets  of  Port- 
land, I  felt  a  lonesomeness  indeed.  It  was  an  embarrassing 
predicament  for  a  bashful  country-boy,  pressed  thus  pre- 
maturely into  the  responsibilities  of  a  man.  But  I  was 
soon  cheered  up  a  little.  I  had  driven  but  a  short  way 
down  Main  Street,  when  a  gentleman  beckoned  me  to  stop  ; 
and,  looking  into  the  wagon,  and  learning  by  inquiry  what 
'  I  had  in  those  bags,  he  asked  me  my  price  for  the  wheat 


48  ItEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

ami  corn  respectively.  I  told  him  I  would  ascertain  tlie 
market  price.  He  said  he  would  pay  me  two  dollars  and  a 
half  a  bushel  for  the  wheat.  This  appeared  to  me  to  be  an 
enormous  price,  and  I  let  him  take  it  at  once,  and  the  corn 
also  at  a  proportionably  high  price,  for  which  he  paid  me 
the  cash. 

My  marketable  loading  disposed  of,  I  made  my  way  to 
the  encampment  of  the  Oxford  soldiers.  It  was  on  the 
handsome  swell  of  land  commanding  a  view  of  the  harbor, 
which  was  the  site  of  Fort  Preble.  I  found  Churchill  able 
to  return  to  duty ;  and  he  would  not  hear  a  word  of  my 
taking  his  place  as  a  substitute.  And  as  the  camps  were 
not  kept  so  neat  and  cleanly  as  to  suit  my  taste,  I  was  not 
inclined  to  press  that  arrangement  at  all. 

At  the  camp  I  met  with  Thompson  Hall,  of  Falmouth, 
whose  father.  Major  Isaiah  Hall,  resided  in  Norway.  He 
proposed  to  take  a  seat  with  me  in  my  wagon,  and  pilot 
me  to  his  home  in  Falmouth,  and  entertain  me  over  the 
night.  I  of  course  accepted  the  invitation,  and  thus  passed 
another  night  without  expense. 

The  next  day  I  drove  deliberately  on  homeward,  and 
reached  the  parental  mansion  about  nine  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  relieving  my  solicitous  parents  from  painful  anxi- 
ety about  my .  safety.  My  report  of  m3'self  to  my  father 
afforded  him  serene  satisfaction.  On  delivering  to  Major 
Cobb,  of  Gray,  on  my  return-route,  the  goods  he  had 
ordered  by  me,  he  paid  me  handsomely  for  the  business  and 
the  transportation,  —  and  Thompson  Hall  pressed  upon  me 
some  money  besides  my  entertainment,  for  carrying  out 
some  merchandise  with  and  for  him,  so  that,  besides  pay- 
ing over  to  my  father  an  unexpected  sum  for  the  corn  and 
wheat,  I  rendered  in  a  balance  of  cash  for  truckage  over 


HIS    BIRTH    AND    EARLY   DAYS.  49 

all  expenses.  Such  returns  were  peculiarly  interesting  at 
that  time,  when  there  was  a  great  scarcity  of  mone3^ 

As  winter  approached,  the  British  fleet  withdrew  from 
our  coast,  and  m}'  brothers,  with  the  rest  of  the  drafted 
militia,  returned  home.  (The  treaty  of  Ghent,  which  ter- 
minated that  war,  was  concluded  in  the  succeeding  Decem- 
ber.) 

On  the  ensuing  w^inter  1814-15,  our  district  school  was 
kept  by  Rev.  Noah  Cressey,  before  spoken  of,  who  was  a 
superior  school-master,  and  afforded  me  all  the  advantages  of 
an  academic  term.  I  attended  through  the  long  four  months' 
term.  Mr.  Cressey  used  often  to  invite  me  to  tarry  a  while 
with  him  for  special  exercises,  after  the  close  of  the  school 
at  evening.  Generally  these  extra  attentions  were  devoted 
to  exercises  in  reading  in  the  different  styles,  particularly 
the  "grand"  and  the  "pathetic."  This  was  altogether 
of  his  own  volition,  because  he  perceived,  as  he  explained 
the  reason,  that  I  was  destined  to  fill  some  place  as  a 
public  speaker.  Of  his  kindness  I  entertained,  and  shall 
alwaj^s  cherish  in  memor}^,  a  high  appreciation. 

At  the  close  of  the  school  term,  I  returned  to  my  accus- 
tomed diversified  labors  on  the  paternal  estate. 

On  the  succeeding  winter  1815-16,  1  attended  a  long 
term  of  our  district  school  again,  under  the  tuition  of 
the  excellent  Rev.  Mr.  Cressey.  July  17th,  1816,  I  was 
eighteen  years  of  age,  and  became  subject  to  military  duty 
under  the  militia  law  as  it  was.  I  attended  the  drills  of 
the  military  trainings,  armed  and  equipped  as  the  law 
directed.  Late  in  the  autumn  I  went  over  into  the  south- 
east part  of  Waterford,  but  few  miles  from  my  paternal 
home-,  and  engaged  for  a  short  term  in  the  winter  to  teach 
a  small  district  school.  But  before  the  designated  term 
commenced  this  little  district  merged  itself  into  another, 
6 


50  REV.     SYLVAXUS     COBIi,    D.D. 

the  Temple  Hill  District,  which  had  its  teacher  engaged : 
and  thus  m^'-  debut  in  the  profession  of  school  teacher  was 
postponed  to  another  season. 

ARRANGEMENT   AT   THE   HOMESTEAD. 

In  December  of  this  year  (1816),  my  brother  Cyrus,  five 
years  my  senior  in  age,  returned  to  the  parental  mansion, 
and  took  chars;e  of  the  old  homestead.  The  arrani^ement 
was  entered  upon  by  my  suggestion.  My  father  was  in 
feeble  health ;  I  was  becoming  engaged  in  literary  pur- 
suits ;  and  I  proposed  that  Cyi'us  should  have  the  w^hole 
estate  deeded  to  him,  subject  to  a  small  mortgage,  provided 
he  would  make  it  his  home,  and  nourish  and  sustain  our 
parents  during  their  lives.  This  arrangement  was  duly 
executed ;  and  it  placed  matters  at  home  in  a  pleasant 
condition. 

1817.  On  account  of  the  before-mentioned  disappoint- 
ment in  regard  to  school-keeping,  the  opening  winter 
months  of  this  j^ear  were  not  improved  to  great  advantage. 
Our  district  school  was  kept  by  a  j^oung  man  who  was 
reared  in  an  adjoining  district,  by  the  name  of  Nathan 
Noble.  He  was  a  worthy  young  man.  But  as  he  was  not 
in  advance  of  me  in  education,  he  could  render  me  no 
assistance  ;  and  my  attendance  at  the  school,  and  reciting 
in  branches  with  the  first  class,  which  were  already  familiar, 
w^as  nearly  a  waste  of  the  time.  I  should  have  been  more 
profitably  emploj^ed  in  pursuing  advanced  studies,  and  his- 
torical reading,  and  diversified  compositions,  at  home. 

The  ensuing  spring  and  summer  months  were  devoted  to 
farming ;  provided  alwaj^s  that  the  rainy  days  or  parts  of 
days  (when  there  was  no  work  to  be  done  in  barn  or  cel- 
lar), and  the  evenings  and  the  hour's  nooning  which  my 


HIS    BIRTH    AND    EARLY   DAYS.  61 

father's  philosopli}"  usually  took,  and  gave  the  boj^s,  were 
improved  in  reading,  writing  compositions,  and  advancing 
stndies. 

This  autumn  I  attended,  a  term  of  three  months,  at  a 
private  academy  of  the  before-mentioned  Rev.  Noah  Cres- 
se}' ,  kept  at  his  house,  boarding  in  his  family.  Among  my 
fellow-students  was  Hemy  "W.  Millett,  of  the  same  common 
school  district  with  myself.  It  was,  to  me,  a  pleasant 
season. 

I  said  on  page  44,  that,  "  from  the  day  of  my  deliver- 
ance from  the  prison-house  of  darkness,  there  has  never 
been  an  occasion  which  tempted  me  to  deny  the  faith,  or 
even  to  prevaricate  with  regard  to  the  fulness  of  my  con- 
victions of  Christian  truth."  My  devotedness  to  the  faith 
was  well  tested  during  this  school  term.  I  had  no  thought 
of  purchasing  the  favor  of  my  Rev.  and  learned  Preceptor 
by  feigning  an  agreement  with  him  in  religious  opinion. 
One  evening,  at  the  supper  table,  in  the  presence  of  a 
dozen  students,  Mr.  Cresse}"  made  a  disrespectful  remark 
of  Rev.  Tho.  Barnes,  of  Poland,  who  preached  Universal- 
ism  in  Norwa}^  once  a  month,  and  of  the  doctrine.  I  took 
him  up  on  his  remarks,  and  insisted  on  their  injustice.  An 
earnest  doctrinal  discussion  ensued,  which  was  adjourned 
from  the  table  to  the  parlor,  and  continued  through  the 
night  to  3  o'clock  in  the  mioruing.  The  students  remained 
as  hearers  ;  but  after  midnight  they  dropped  off  for  bed 
one  by  one,  and  but  two  or  three  of  them  were  present 
when  the  discussion  was  closed. 

There  was  one  "  passage  at  arms"  which  greatly  amused 
the  students,  and  of  which  some  of  them  have  often  spoken 
on  our  meeting  in  subsequent  years.  Mr.  Cressey  adduced 
Matt.  XXV.  46,  as  proof  of  endless  punishment.  I  com- 
menced  at   the  besiinnino:  of  the  discourse  of  Christ  of 


52  r.EV.  SYLVANUS  conn,  d.d. 

which  that  verse  is  the  close,  and  was  reading  along  to 
show  that  the  subject  of  the  whole  discourse  was  a  judg- 
ment which  should  take  place  in  the  end  of  the  Jewish  age 
in  that  generation.  Perceiving  the  force  of  this  exegetical 
method,  he  interrupted  me  with  the  exclamation,  "  You  are 
running  off  to  something  else.  I  must  confine  you  to  this 
single  verse."  "  Well,"  said  I,  "then  it  means  nothing. 
'  These  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment.'  Who 
are  meant  by  these  ?  This  pronoun  has  no  meaning  with- 
out an  antecedent."  "  O,"  he  replied,  "  you  may  go  back 
into  the  connection  to  find  the  antecedent  of  these."  Then 
I  struck  in  again  at  the  point  where  he  interrupted  me, 
and  read  along  as  before.  Shortly  he  interrupted  me  in 
like  manner  again,  saying,  "I'm  going  to  confine  you  to 
this  verse  :  '  These  shall  go  av>ay  into  everlasting  punish- 
ment ;  but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal.' "  "  Then,"  I 
rejoined,  "I  give  it  up  as  unexplainable,  and  meaning 
nothing.  If  we  may  not  seek  an  explanation  of  these 
words  of  the  Master  from  the  Master  himself,  by  consult- 
ing the  connections  of  his  discourse  for  the  general  sub- 
ject, it  will  be  useless  to  v/aste  time  in  a  jingle  on  a 
detached  expression."  And  so  my  preceptor  consented  to 
leave  that  passage. 

We  passed  to  the  discussion  of  other  Scripture  texts  ; 
and,  in  an  hour  or  more  subsequently,  he  found  occasion 
to  quote  the  words  of  Ezekiel,  "  The  soul  that  sinneth,  it 
shall  die."  I  asked  him  what  was  meant  by  the  death 
there  referred  to.  "Eternal  death,"  he  replied.  "And 
who  are  sinners?"  I  asked.  "All  men  are  sinners,"  he 
responded;  "for  'all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of  the 
glory  of  God.'"  "Then,"  said  I,  "all  men  must  suffer 
endless  torment,  and  there  is  no  hope  either  for  j^ou  or 
me."    "  Why  !  why  ! "  he  exclaimed,  "  what  do  you  mean?" 


niS    BIRTH   AND    EARLY   DAYS.  53 

"  Wh}^,  I  mean  what  I  say.  The  prophet  sa3^s,  '  The  soul 
that  sinneth,  it  shall  die.'  You  say  this  means  eternal 
death ;  and  that  all  have  sinned.  Then,  by  your  own 
showing,  all  shall  suffer  eternal  death."  The  following 
encounter  ensued : 

Cressey.     But  there  is  an  atonement 


Cohh.  No,  this  passage  says  nothing  about  an  atone- 
ment. It  says  '  The  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die.'  And 
you  say  the  sinners  are  all  men,  and  the  death  —  endless 
misery.     There  is  no  hope 

Cressey.     But  Jesus  Christ 


Cohh.  No,  no.  This  passage  sa3^s  nothing  about  Jesus 
Christ.  I  am  going  to  confine  3'ou  to  this  single  verse.  I 
insist  that  jow.  shall  show  me,  from  this  verse,  that  any 
man  can  escape  final  wo 

Cressey  —  (trembling  with  excitement,  and  elevating  his 
voice).  But  lue  must  go  to  the  general  teachings  of  the 
Scriptures. 

Cohh.  Good,  good,  my  dear  sir.  Now  that  you  have 
come  to  see  that  we  must  explain  Scripture  by  Scripture, 
we  Vy'ill  return  to  the  25th  of  Matthew,  and  I  will  show  you 
from  the  connections  the  meaning  of  the  verse  which  you 
quoted. 

And  he  jdelded  to  this  demand  with  respectful  attention, 
and  I  finished  up  my  exegetical  commentary  on  the  24th 
and  25th  chapters,  which  he  permitted  to  pass  without 
further  opposition.  We  continued  our  discussion  for  some 
time  yet,  touching  different  points  of  doctrine  and  different 
texts  of  Scripture,  until  about  3  o'clock  a.m.,  when  he  pro- 
posed an  adjournment  to  bed,  to  w^hich  I  acceded.  He 
came  out  late  the  next  forenoon,  saluting  me  jovially  with 
6* 


54  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

reference  to  our  night's  theological  contest.  He  gave  me 
no  occasion  afterwards  to  encounter  him  in  defence  of  my 
faith ;  and,  instead  of  withdrawing  his  attentions  because 
of  my  ingenuousness  in  the  maintenance  of  my  religious 
principles,  he  manifestly  held  me  in  the  higher  estimation. 
I  believe  that  young  men  will  usually  find  it  good  policy  as 
well  as  good  principle,  to  be  seriously  and  candidly  faith- 
ful to  their  religious  convictions,  —  faithful  to  their  God  as 
Avell  as  to  their  social  relations. 

In  due  season  I  engaged  to  teach  the  Temple  Hill  School 
District  in  AYaterford  the  ensuing  winter,  for  a  term  of  two 
months,  if  I  do  not  misremember.  I  believe,  however, 
that  private  subscriptions  extended  the  term  to  three 
months. 

Saturday,  Dec.  10,  —  I  went  over  to  Waterford,  to  be  on 
hand  to  commence  my  school  Monday  the  12th,  according 
to  engagement.  My  designated  boarding  house  was  Joel 
Atherton's.  He  was  the  District  Agent  who  contracted 
with  me  as  teacher.  In  the  afternoon  I  called  upon  the 
Chairman  of  the  School  Committee,  Rev.  Lincoln  Ripley, 
at  the  Centre  of  the  Town,  for  Examination  and  Certificate. 
He  was  down  in  his  well,  assisting  his  hired  man  in  cleans- 
ing it.  Not  willing  to  leave  so  rare  a  job,  he  told  me  that 
he  would  assume  the  responsibility  to  set  me  at  work  for 
the  ensuing  week,  postponing  the  examination  to  the  next 
Saturday. 

Monday,  Dec.  12,  1817.— This  morning  at  nine  o'clock, 
1  made  my  debut  in  the  capacity  of  a  school-master.  The 
information  I  had  received  since  coming  into  the  place  in 
relation  to  the  past  character  of  the  school,  had  filled  me 
with  fear  and  trembling.  The  school  had  been  for  the  last 
three  winters  in  terrible  disorder.  The  large  scholars 
sometimes  treated  the  master  to  threats  of  violence.     I  was 


HIS    BiliTH    AND    EARLY    DAYS.  55 

naturally  diffident ;  and,  being  entirely  without  experience 
in  this  branch  of  business,  I  feared  that  I  should  fail,  and 
wished  myself  out  of  the  concern.  However,  I  was  there 
and  would  try. 

Saturday^  Dec.  18.  — This  was  the  day  of  trial  at  head- 
quarters. In  the  afternoon  I  went  up  to  Parson  Ripley's 
according  to  arrangement,  for  examination.  After  a  brief 
trial  of  my  proficiency  in  reading,  spelling,  grammar,  and 
the  rules  of  arithmetic,  the  parson  turned  his  inquiries  to 
the  subject  of  religious  doctrine.  I  answered  his  inquiries 
with  the  same  directness  with  which  I  responded  to  his 
examinations  in  literature  and  science ;  making  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  instead  of  Murray's  Grammar,  Pike's  Arithme- 
tic, and  Johnson's  Dictionary,  my  appeal  for  authority. 
This  discussion  was  continued  until  an  advanced  hour  in 
the  evening,  when  my  venerable  inspector  turned  to  his 
desk,  and  wrote  the  following : 


This  may  certify  that  Mr.  Sylvanus  Cobb  appears,  on  exam- 
ination, to  possess  a  competent  knowledge  of  those  branches  of 
education  which  are  usually  taught  in  our  common  schools.  He 
also  has  in  his  possession  legal  vouchers  for  his  being  a  young 
man  of  good  moral  character.  Agreeably  to  these  testimonials 
he  is  hereby  recommended  as  one  qualified  for  an  instructor  of  a 
common  school. 

LINCOLN  RIPLEY, 

Minister  of  Waterford. 

Waterford,  Dec.  18,  1817. 


When  he  had  passed  this  certificate  into  my  hand,  and  I 
had  placed  it  in  my  wallet,  he  pensively  remarked  that  he 
reorretted  that  I  was  comina:  into  the  town  to  disseminate 
Universalism  among  the  children.  I  replied  that,  even  if 
it  were  to  be  m}^  business  to  teach  Theology  in  Waterford, 


56  MEF.    SYLVAN  US     COBB^    D.D. 

the  impartation  to  the  children  of  the  principles  of  my  reli- 
gion would  be  precisely  adapted  to  their  highest  need.  It 
would  give  them  a  Father  in  God,  whom  they  could  trust 
and  love.  "  If,  to  produce  reverence  for  family  govern- 
ment at  their  homes,  I  should  deliver  to  them  a  disserta- 
tion on  parental  discipline,  alleging  that,  if  they  should  dis- 
obey their  parents,  their  parents  would  contrive  and  execute 
a  mode  of  punishment  designed  to  preclude  their  future 
improvement,  and  to  compass  their  utter  ruin,  those  parents 
would,  and  that  with  your  approbation,  drive  me  out  of 
town  as  a  defamer  and  a  madman.  And  yet  3"ou  are  sad 
to  think  that  I  may  inspire  the  children  of  my  school  with 
as  adoring  a  conception  of  the  principles  of  their  heavenly 
Father's  government,  as  you  would  have  them  entertain  of 
the  government  of  their  earthly  parents ;  that  I  will  not 
petrify  their  souls  with  the  thought  that  God,  in  his  judi- 
cial administration,  will  make  punishment  an  instrument 
of  final  ruin  to  his  children,  instead  of  a  means  of  correc- 
tion to  a  beneficent  end. 

"  But,"  I  continued,  "  it  is  not  my  business  to  teach  the- 
ology in  the  common  school.  The  voters  of  Waterford 
appropriate  money  to  you,  sir,  as  their  teacher  in  theology. 
And  the  purpose  for  which  a  portion  of  them  have  con- 
tracted with  me,  is  that  of  imparting  to  their  children  in- 
struction in  the  rudiments  of  common  learning.  It  will  be 
my  duty,  of  course,  to  inculcate,  and  practically  exemplify, 
the  morality  of  the  gospel ;  and  incidentally,  to  inculcate 
those  principles  of  religious  veneration  in  which  all  Chris- 
tian denominations  agree.  But,  if  I  were  of  your  religious 
opinions^  for  me  to  take  the  advantage  of  my  position  in 
the  school,  to  intrude  upon  the  children  theological  dogmas 
on  which  their  parents  are  conscientiously  at  variance, 
would  be  a  reprehensible  wrong." 


HIS    BIETH    AND    EARLY    DAYS.  57 

The  parson  did  not  find  how  to  controvert  this  position  ; 
but  he  said  that  with  my  leave,  he  wonkl  add  a  Post  Script 
to  my  Certificate.  I  handed  it  back  to  him,  and  he  ap- 
pended the  following : 

P.  S.  Notwithstanding  Mr.  Cobb  appears  legally  qualified 
as  above,  I  could  not  consistently  commit  a  child  to  the  care 
of  one  of  his  religious  sentiments. 

LINCOLN  RIPLEY. 

Waterford,  Dec.  18,  1817. 

On  receiving  from  his  hand  the  amended  Certificate,  and 
reading  the  Post  Script,  I  stood  erect,  full  six  feet  and 
an  inch,  and  assured  him  that  he  was  doing  me  a  favor 
which  he  did  not  intend,  and  inflicting  on  himself  an 
injury,  which  I,  as  his  friend,  should  regret ;  that  I  would 
earn  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  people,  who  would 
condemn  him  for  his  attempt  to  injure  me  for  my  religious 
faith. 

There  was  I,  a  green  country  j^outh  19  years  of  age,  on  . 
my  first  endeavor  out  in  the  world,  in  a  town  in  v,diich  I 
had  not  been  able  to  learn  of  a  single  person  professing 
the  faith  which  I  cherished,  knowing  that  the  District 
Agent  who  engaged  me  as  a  teacher  was  a  member  of  this 
Rev.  gentleman's  church,  charged  with  the  delivery  to  that 
Agent  of  credentials  wdth  the  attache  of  an  ecclesiastical 
anathama,  which  the  clerical  Committee-man,  in  his  esti- 
mate of  his  own  influence,  probably  believed  would  send 
me  snivelling,  back  from  whence  I  came.  I  wonder  that  I 
did  not  quail.  But,  in  the  integrity  of  my  principle,  I 
knew  no  fear. 

As  I  was  about  retiring,  Mr.  Ripley  expressed  the  hope 
that  I  should  show  that  writing  to  the  Committee  at  once. 
I  assured  him  that  it  would  be  my  pleasure  to  do  so. 


58  REV.    SYLVAXUS     COBD.    D.D. 

On  reaching  the  house  of  the  Agent,  the  Chairman  of 
the  District  Committee,  Joel  Atherton,  with  whom  I  was 
then  boarding,  I  informed  him,  before  being  seated,  of  the 
request  of  his  minister,  that  I  woukl  at  once  exhibit  to 
him  my  letters  of  approval  and  condemnation,  at  the  same 
time  placing  in  his  hand  my  cherished  Certificate  and 
Post  Script.  He  read,  and  squirmed,  and  scowled,  and 
at  length  exclaimed,  '*  I  did  not  think  that  Mr.  Riplc}'' 
was  so  much  of  a  fool."  And  the  Bull  of  the  "  Minister  of 
Waterford "  met  with  a  similar  reception  throughout  the 
District.  The  week  that  I  had  been  with  the  school  by 
permission,  before  the  Examination,  had  begotten  a  strong 
mutual  attachment  between  me  and  all  the  school,  and  the 
parents  of  course,  and  Mr.  Ripley's  Post  Script  affected 
them  with  deep  disgust. 

And  forthwith  the  working  of  this  matter  full}^  verified 
the  admonition  which  I  delivered  to  the  parson  on  the  first 
reading  of  his  "P.  S."  The  report  of  it,  in  connection 
with  the  fact  that  there  was  a  Uuiversalist  teaching  the 
Temple  Hill  District  School,  spread  over  the  town  like 
"  wildfire."  It  brought  up  to  the  surface  and  exposed 
two  or  three  confirmed  Universalists  who  had  not  taken  a 
public  position  as  such ;  and  it  brought  to  me  inquirers 
from  different  parts  of  the  town.  It  being  a  farming  town, 
many  of  the  people  were  in  the  habit  of  tarrying  at  and 
near  the  Church  Sunday  noon.  Numbers  would  often 
gather  around  the  Universalist  School  Master,  some  ap- 
proaching with  inquiries  concerning  my  views  of  religion, 
religious  experience,  &c.  My  custom  was,  to  answer  with 
reverent  statements  of  the  purpose  of  the  Saviour's  mission 
in  general,  and  the  spirit  of  his  life,  which  was  of  course 
the  spirit  of  his  religion.  And  this  was  love.  I  would 
take  them  along  with  me  in  my  estimate  of  this  holy  spirit 


niS    BIRTH   AND    EARLY    DATS.  59 

of  Christianity,  its  influence  upon  the  soul,  and  the  sj^m- 
pathies  and  aspirations  which  it  enkindled  in  our  hearts 
for  our  fellow-beings,  which  could  never  be  satisfied  but 
by  a  hope  corresponding  with  these  sympathies  and  aspira- 
tions. They  would  unhesitatingly  express  their  acquies- 
cence in  these  views  ;  and  when  I  would  tell  them  that  tliis 
is  Universalism^  thej^  would  appear  delightfully  astonished, 
and  one  and  another  would  frankly  confess,  "  Then  I  am 
a  Universalist."  These  conversations  would  lead  to  fur- 
ther inquiries,  and  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures ;  some- 
times to  the  loan  of  some  of  my  theological  books. 

THE   SCPIOOL. 

But  I  was  duly  at  work  in  the  service  of  m}^  new  calling, 
as  a  School  Master.  Monday  morning,  Dec.  12,  1817,  as 
before  stated,  I  entered  the  Temple  Hill  School  House  in 
Waterford,  to  begin  this  responsible  mission.  I  felt  my 
dependence,  and  opened  the  exercises  with  prayer.  I  then 
addressed  the  scholars,  explaining  the  purpose  for  which 
we  had  come  together ;  the  appropriation  by  their  parents 
of  money  from  their  hard  earnings  for  the  support  of  the 
school,  all  for  their  (the  children's)  good  ;  the  responsi- 
bility which  rested  upon  me,  whom  they  had  placed  there 
as  the  governor  and  teacher  of  the  school,  to  be  faithful  in 
my  endeavors  that  their  reasonable  expectations  should  be 
realized.  I  expressed  also  my  confidence  that  the  scholars 
would  cheerfully  co-operate  with  me  in  the  pleasant  and 
profitable  work  before  us.  And  as  system  was  essential  to 
success  in  such  a  business,  I  propounded  a  code  of  laws 
for  their  government.  I  attached  no  penalties  to  my  laws. 
I  maintained  a  course  of  remark  which  did  not  admit  of 
the  suspicion  that  any  one  would  be  disposed  to  disobey,' 


60  nEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

and  introduce  disorder,  to  the  injury  of  themselves  with  the 
whole  school.  I  left  all  penal  discipline  to  be  called  in 
requisition  and  adjusted  as  circumstances  should  require. 
But  it  was  seldom,  hardly  at  all,  that  I  found  corporeal 
punishment  requisite.  I  conversed  with  all  the  older 
scholars  individually,  ascertaining  their  stage  of  progress 
in  education,  and  their  wishes  and  intentions  for  that  term, 
that  I  might  class  them  judiciously  ;  and  I  urged  them  to 
exercise  the  utmost  freedom  in  the  way  of  calling  upon  me 
for  aid.  The  order  of  the  school  soon  became  perfect ;  and 
the  same  large  boys,  young  men  I  may  say,  who  had  been 
named  to  me  as  having  been  insubordinate  to  the  man  who 
had  acted  in  the  place  of  master  the  three  preceding  win- 
ters, became  my  most  respectful  associates,  aiding  me  by 
their  example  in  the  maintenance  of  order. 

At  the  close  of  the  term  I  had  an  "  Examination,"  at 
which  the  Committee,  including  the  before-mentioned  Rev. 
Mr.  Ripley,  were  present.  Mr.  Ripley  spoke  enthusiasti- 
cally of  the  order  and  progress  of  the  school,  and  pro- 
nounced it  the  best  in  town. 

I  will  record  the  fact  here,  with  reference  to  Rev.  Mr. 
Ripley's  "  Post  Script^''  that  before  the  close  of  this  term  I 
was  engaged  to  teach  this  school  the  next  winter ;  and 
was  also  engaged,  by  Abel  Houghton,  a  member  of  Mr. 
Ripley's  church,  Agent  of  the  District  in  the  North-west 
corner  of  the  town,  called  "  Blackguard,"  to  teach  that 
school  also  the  next  winter.  This  I  was  able  to  do,  as  the 
terms  were  but  two  months  each  in  the  two  districts. 


A.  D.  1818. 

I  have  already  run  my  narrative  three  months  into  this 
year,  by  the  sketch  of  my  Waterford  school.     During  the 


HIS    BIRTH    AND    EARLY    DAYS.  61 

spring  and  summer  months  I  assisted  my  brother  Cyrus  on 
the  Homestead,  as  I  was  obligated  to  do  by  the  before-men- 
tioned arrangement  which  I  initiated. 

In  the  autumn  I  took  another  Academic  term  of  school- 
ing under  the  tuition  of  the  aforesaid  Eev.  Noah  Cressey, 
at  his  house.  The  school  of  12  or  14,  was  composed 
mostly  of  the  same  young  men  that  pursued  their  studies 
together  here  on  the  preceding  autumn. 

In  December,  I  returned  to  my  school  in  Temple  Hill 
District,  Waterford.  Starting  with  the  mutual  attach- 
ments, and  the  stage  of  progress,  attained  last  winter,  this 
was  an  exceedingl}^  pleasant  and  profitable  term. 

In  January,  1819,  I  entered  upon  my  work  in  the  North- 
west District  of  the  same  town,  my  engagement  with  which 
is  noted  on  the  preceding  page.  This  school,  too,  had  suf- 
fered from  defective  government  in  times  past ;  but  it 
speedily  came  into  order,  and  achieved  advancement  very 
satisfactory  to  the  parents,  and  the  Town  Committee.  I 
boarded  a  portion  of  the  time  with  Abel  Houghton,  and  a 
part  with  a  Mr.  Whitcomb. 

Before  leaving  town  I  was  engaged  to  teach  this  North- 
west District  again  the  next  winter,  and  also  the  Temple 
Hill  District.  And  the  Committee  of  the  "  City  District," 
in  which  Rev.  Mr.  Ripley  resided,  engaged  me  for  that 
District  also  the  next  winter. 


A.  D.  1819. 

Having  closed  my  second  school  in  Waterford,  which  ran 
three  months  into  this  j^ear,  I  returned  to  the  Homestead, 
and  assisted  my  brother  Cjvus  on  the  farm,  as  per  agree- 
ment. 

6 


62  REV.    SYLVAN  us     COBB,    D.D, 

TWENTY-ONE  YEARS   OLD. 

JULY  17TII ;  —  I  attained  to  the  age  0/ Legal  Freedom  ; 
on  which  occasion  I  broke  forth  into  song,  as  follows  :  — 


Now  one  and  twenty  years  I've  lived. 
With  countless  blessings  crowned, 

And  in  my  father's  house  received 
Supplies  for  needs  I've  found. 


His  table,  house,  and  fields  were  mine, 

Flow'rs  and  arborous  shade: 
Oft  have  I  there  at  ease  reclined; 

Oft  o'er  the  fields  I've  played. 

3. 

When  I  would  walk  the  blooming  fields, 

Or  pleasant  verdant  grove ; 
Or,  for  the  beauties  nature  yields, 

Would  o'er  the  mountains  rove ; 

4. 
The  little  birds  have  merry  been, 

And  cheered  me  with  their  song; 
And  with  their  soft  melodious  strain, 

My  voice  I'd  often  join. 

5. 

From  ev'ry  side,  east,  west,  south,  north, 
The  laughing  flow'rs  would  look, 

And  send  their  lively  fragrance  forth, 
O'er  mountain,  field,  and  brook. 

6. 
And  when  I  thus  abroad  have  strayed, 

No  troubles  would  incline ; 
Of  morrow's  suif 'rings  not  afraid;  — 

My  father's  house  was  mine. 


HIS    BIRTH    AND     EARLY    DAYS.  63 

7. 
Whenever  I  should  weary  grow, 

Or  should  there  storms  arise; 
The  furious  winds  tempestuous  blow, 

Or  thunders  shake  the  skies :  — 


Or  should  the  darksome  night  advance, 

Or  cold  and  chilling  blast, 
Or  hunger  e'er  my  wants  enhance, — 

I  to  my  homo  would  haste. 

9. 
There'd  be  a  table  richly  spread. 

And  there  a  fire-side  free : 
I  might  recline  on  downy  bed, 

Or  eat,  and  rise  to  play. 

10. 
But  now  another  scene  appears  ! 

Let  joy  lie  silent  by. 
Awake,  my  cares;  awake,  my  fears  ! 

Fate  raises  now  his  cry. 

11. 

Methinks  he  says,  the  day  is  come. 

When  none  is  bound  to  me, 
To  feed,  or  clothe,  or  find  a  home ;  — 

There's  nothing  mine  I  see. 

12. 
What  I  before  have  called  my  own 

Is  now  no  longer  mine. 
May  I  not  sit  and  grieve  alone  ? 

To  meagre  want  resign  ? 


13. 


May  I  not  suffer  m  the  field. 

As  nothing  I  possess 
That  can  to  me  assistance  yield, 

In  huncrer  or  distress  ? 


64  JiEF.    SYLVANUS     COBB^   D.D. 

14. 

Whenever  I  shall  weary  be, 
When  winter's  storms  pervade, 

Where  shall  I  then  for  shelter  flee  ? 
Or  where  recline  my  head? 

15. 
Peace,  peace,  my  soul  !   an  angel  speaks 

In  renovating  strain  ! 
What  fiend  with  uncouth  message  seeks 

To  give  your  spirit  pain  ? 

16. 
Why  now  distrust  your  guardian  Friend, 

Who  rules  in  boundless  love,  — 
Who  makes  a  wise  and  glorious  end 

All  dispensations  prove  ? 

17. 
Your  former  home,  delightful  shade, 

Your  gardens,  flow'ry  fields, 
Gay,  pleasant  pastures,  where  you've  strayed. 

All  beauties  nature  yields; 

18. 
Your  life,  support,  yea,  all  your  joys. 

From  that  great  Fountain  came, 
Whose  fulness  no  dire  foe  destroys, 

Eternally  the  same. 

19. 

Your  "heavenly  Father,"  he  commands 

That  you  shall  him  address; 
Your  Friend  at  home,  in  distant  lands. 

In  health  or  in  distress. 

20. 

Yea,  all  mankind  his  offspring  are, 

Their  fortune  he'll  control ; 
They  shall  his  grace  and  mercy  share;  — 

He's  boundless  love  to  all. 


HIS    BIRTH    AND    EARLY    DAYS.  65 

21. 
Avjake,  my  joys  !  away,  my  fears  ! 

My  great  Protector  lives  ! 
His  word,  his  name  my  spirit  cheers, 

And  hope  and  pleasure  gives. 

22. 
Now  I  can  walk  the  blooming  field, 

And  bow'rs  in  endless  green; 
Where  flowers  eternal  fragrance  yield, 

Which  grace  the  shining  scene. 

23. 
My  walks  with  richest  fruits  o'erhung, 

Are  lined  and  paved  with  gold; 
Pure,  living  waters  flow  along, 

The  vales  of  peace  unfold. 

24. 
Thus  I  in  heavenly  pleasures  rove, 

Or  joyful  sit  and  sing, 
Beneath  my  heavenly  Father's  care. 

My  Guardian  and  my  King. 

25. 
But,  in  my  soul  should  darkness  rise, 

And  unbelief  awake, 
And  I  against  my  king  devise,  — 

Will  he  not  me  forsake? 

26. 
No  :  as  a  father,  should  his  son. 

While  under  his  command. 
In  a  destructive  contract  run. 

Lets  not  th'  agreement  stand;  — 

27. 
So  should  I  covenant  with  death, 
Or  e'er  with  hell  agree, 

6* 


66  liEV.    SYLVAN  us     COBB,    D.D. 

My  King  —  Almighty  Father,  saith, 
"  Your  contract  void  shall  be."  * 

28. 
Is  such  thy  faithfulness,  dear  Lord  ? 

And  such  th}'  tender  caro  ? 
Then  I  will  trust  thy  steadfast  word, 

Thy  righteous  law  admire. 

29. 
And  while  I  breath  and  being  have, 

In  good  or  evil  days, 
I'll  joy  in  thine  unbounded  love, 

And  try  to  live  thy  praise. 

I  had  now  fulfilled  my  legal  obligation  to  my  father, 
which  was  the  rendering  to  him  of  my  labor  during  the  age 
of  legal  minority,  taking  only  reasonable  time  for  schooling. 
And  this  service,  when  the  arrangement,  by  my  sugges- 
tion, was  made  with  my  brother  Cj^rus,  for  his  taking  the 
Homestead,  was,  by  my  determined  choice,  transferred  to 
him.  The  occupancy  of  the  two  preceding  winters  at 
school-keeping  was  but  the  use  in  my  own  way  of  the  time 
to  which  I,  in  common  with  my  brothers,  was  entitled  for 
attendance  upon  the  District  school.  But  my  terms,  in  the 
two  preceding  autumns,  at  Cressey's  Academy,  occupied 
time  which  my  brothers,  in  their  turns  respectively,  at  the 
same  age,  devoted  to  the  paternal  farm.  Therefore,  to  be 
even  with  them,  at  the  close  of  my  school-keeping  terms, 
I  asked  my  father  what  were  the  wages  per  month  in  the 
fall  for  a  3'oung  man  at  farm  work.  On  being  informed,  I 
counted  out  to  him  the  money  for  the  time  absorbed  by  my 
Academic  terms.  He  at  first  refused  to  accept  it,  and 
seemed  grieved  at  my  proposal  to  pay  him  for  the  time 

*  Isa.  xxviii.  15-18. 


HIS    BIRTH   AND    EARLY   DATS.  67 

taken  for  schooling.  I  told  him  that  my  purpose  was  fixed. 
I  appreciated  his  kind  feelings,  and  those  of  Cyrus,  who 
also  objected  to  m^^  proposition,  as  it  would  accrue  to  his 
benefit.  But  I  had  taken  to  m3^self  autumnal  months 
which  my  brothers  had  devoted  to  farm  work ;  and  I  would 
not  accept  any  partiality  in  my  own  favor.  I  would  be 
even  with  the  rest  of  the  family.  And  I  carried  out  my 
will  in  the  premises,  and  made  all  satisfied  with  it. 

But  now  I  was  "  Twenty-One."  I  hired  myself  to  our 
neighbor,  Benj.  Herring,  for  a  month,  at  haying,  for  twenty 
dollars^  which  was  considered,  at  the  time,  high  wages.  I 
had  a  great  knack  at  mowing.  It  was  the  only  branch  of 
farm  work  at  which  I  would  engage  in  a  race.  I  had  a 
good  and  healthy  constitution ;  but  for  chopping  my  mus- 
cles were  not  hard  enough  to  work  continuously  with  ease  ; 
and  at  hoeing  and  reaping  my  back  would  tire.  But  I 
have  spoken  of  these  things  before. 

After  this  month  at  haying  on  hire,  I  let  mj^self  to  Gen. 
Wm.  Parsons  for  another  month,  at  miscellaneous  farm 
work ;  at  the  close  of  which  I  entered  upon  an  Academic 
school  term  on  Paris  Hill.  Hebron  Academy  was  burned 
some  time  before,  and  had  not  been  rebuilt ;  and  this 
school  was  substituted  for  the  time.  Stephen  Emerj^,  who 
has  since  been  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Maine, 
was  our  Preceptor  the  first  part  of  the  term,  and  Elijah 
Hamlin,  an  older  brother  of  Hannibal  Hamlin,  since  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States j  succeeded  Mr.  Emery  in 
charge  of  the  school.  I  boarded  with  Maj.  Russell  Hub- 
bard, son  of  Gen.  Levi  Hubbard. 

During  this  school  term  I  formed  some  interesting 
acquaintances,  Avhich  were  life-lasting ;  and  some  of  my 
fellow-students  have  risen  to  eminent  stations.  John  Otis, 
who  went  into  the  practice  of  law,  represented  the  District 


68  JiEV.    SYLVAN  us     COBB,    D.D. 

of  Kennebec  in  Congress  for  at  least  one  term  ;  and  Han- 
nibal Hamlin,  another  of  my  companions  of  that  school 
term,  after  good  service  both  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives and  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  as  gov- 
ernor of  Maine,  was  elected  (in  18G0)  Vice-President  of 
the  United  States,  in  connection  with  the  first  four-j^ear 
term  of  the  Presidency  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  In  1865,  he 
was  appointed  by  President  Andrew  Johnson  to  the  Col- 
lectorship  of  the  Port  of  Boston. 

But  in  all  m}-  positions  and  relations  I  was  proud  of 
my  religious  faith.  I  was  never  ashamed  of  my  Lord  and 
Master,  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  My  love  of  the  glorious 
faith  of  the  gospel,  conduced  to  a  preparedness  on  the 
instant  for  its  defence  whenever  occasion  called.  I  will 
here  note  an  incident  illustrative  of  this  remark.  One 
morning  I  fell  into  company  with  several  fellow-students 
on  the  Common,  upon  our  way  to  the  Academy.  One  of 
them  was  a  candidate  for  the  Orthodox  Congregational 
ministry.  We  fell  into  conversation  on-  doctrines  of  the- 
ology. The  discussion  settled  down  upon  the  term  aionion, 
as  applied  in  the  New  Testament  to  punishment.  I  as- 
sumed that  its  primary  signification  is  duration  of  time 
indefinite,  and  is  used  both  in  a  limited  and  unlimited 
sense  ;  and  of  course  that  its  sense  in  any  given  case  must 
be  determined  by  the  nature  of  the  subject  to  which  it  is 
applied.  And  as  punishment  is  not  an  end,  but  a  means  to 
an  end,  it  is  of  course  limited  in  its  nature,  and  the  word 
aionion  has  no  power  to  eternize  it.  My  Orthodox  com- 
panion conceded  that  the  word  is  often  used  in  a  limited 
sense,  being  applied  to  things  of  time  ;  but  insisted  that  its 
primary  and  proper  meaning  is  endless.  The  other  mem- 
bers of  the  accidental  meeting  gave  their  voices  in  his 
favor. 


HIS    BIRTH   AND    HARLY    DAYS.  69 

At  this  juncture  we  saw  Preceptor  Hamlin  coming,  and 
agreed  to  submit  the  question  to  him.  On  his  joining  our 
company,  the  case  was  presented  to  him,  and  our  positions 
respectively  were  stated.  He  unhesitatingly  replied,  that 
the  primary  and  proper  signification  of  aionion  is  endless. 
Isly  companions  were  pleased  ;  and  I  was  not  displeased, 
for  I  knew  where  I  stood,  and  was  confident  of  victory, 
even  through  our  Preceptor's  judgment.  I  replied  to  him, 
that  it  might  appear  pedantic  in  me,  a  student  in  Latin, 
who  had  not  then  even  learned  the  Greek  alphabet,  to  con- 
trovert the  position  of  my  learned  Preceptor  on  the  sense 
of  a  Greek  word.  But  you,  I  continued,  with  a  general 
knowledge  of  Greek,  have  not  had  3'our  attention  called  to 
a  critical  examination  of  the  derivation  and  use  of  this 
particular  word.  You  merely  float  along  in  the  common 
opinion  concerning  it.  But  what  I  know  of  it,  I  know 
certain.  I  have  read  most  of  the  discussions  of  it,  in  which 
the  learned  of  different  religious  sentiments  have  partici- 
pated, —  and  I  know  that  the  primary  meaning  of  aionion 
is  duration  of  time  indefinite;  and  of  course  that  its  sense 
must  be  judged  of  in  each  case  of  its  use,  from  the  nature 
of  the  subject.  And  now,  said  I,  Preceptor  Hamlin,  I 
propose  that  you  improve  your  leisure  time  between  this 
and  to-morrow  morning  at  this  hour,  in  a  critical  review 
of  this  subject,  when  we  will  meet  again  on  this  spot,  and 
hear  your  decision.     To  this  he  assented,  and  all  agreed. 

The  next  morning  we  students  were  on  the  spot  a  little 
in  advance  of  the  hour ;  but,  in  due  time  the  Preceptor 
approached,  showing  the  white  of  his  ivory  from  as  far  as 
we  could  see  him.  When  he  had  come  near  enough  to  be 
heard  in  a  conversational  tone,  he  exclaimed,  "  Cobb! 
You've  got  it.  You  are  right,  Cobb,  perfectly  right.  It 
is,"  he  continued,  "  as  you  said.     I  had  a  general  knowl- 


70  EEV.    SYLVANUS     COBBy    D.D. 

edge  of  the  Greek.  I  read  the  Greek  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment in  m}'  Academic  and  College  course ;  but  my  atten- 
tion was  never  before  called  to  a  critical  notice  of  the 
derivation  and  common  use  of  aionion^  even  in  the  Classics. 
I  am  surprised  on  discovering  how  unquestionably  the 
proper  meaning  of  the  word  is  indefinite  duration  of  tiine, 
and  how  commonly  the  old  Greek  writers  used  it  in  con- 
nection with  things  and  events  of  limited  duration."  None 
dissented  from  this  decision,  for  it  had  the  authority  of  a 
master  upon  examination  of  the  record.  It  may  be  that  I 
was  somewhat  pleased. 

This  school  term  was  to  me  a  pleasant  and  profitable 
one. 


WATERFORD   SCHOOLS— AGAIN. 

On  page  61  mention  is  made  of  my  having  engaged  the 
schools  in  three  of  the  Districts  in  Waterford,  including 
the  two  I  had  taught  before,  and  the  Centre  District  also, 
including  the  family  of  Rev.  Mr.  Ripley.  Such  was  my 
success  at  school-keeping  in  that  town,  notwithstanding  the 
counter-effort  of  Mr.  Ripley's  post  script.  I  commenced 
the  Temple  Hill  school  the  middle  of  November,  and  con- 
tinued six  weeks,  to  the  last  of  December ;  then  kept  the 
North-west  school  January  and  February  ;  and  the  City  or 
Centre  school,  March  and  April. 

During  this  winter  a  small  Universalist  society  was  organ- 
ized in  the  town,  —  not  b}^  my  suggestion,  but  by  several 
ardent  believers  in  the  universal  Saviour,  who  desired  to 
make  provision  for  at  least  occasional  preaching  of  the 
word.  This  released  them  from  liability  of  taxation  for 
the  support  of  Mr.  Ripley.  I  was  present  at  the  April 
town  meeting,  when  the  question  came  up  as  to  the  grant- 


niS    BIRTH  AND   EARLY    DAYS,  71 

ing  of  Mr.  Eipley's   salary  for  another  j^ear.     A  member 
of  the  Board  of  Select  Men,  who  was  also  a  member  of 
Mr.  R.'s  church,  spoke  against  voting  the  salary,  explaining 
that  when  Mr.  R.  was  settled,  it  was  by  a  vote  of  the  town, 
and  all  the  citizens  were  taxed  for  the   payment  of  the 
salar}^     Subsequently  a  Baptist  society  was  formed,  taking 
off  a  portion  of  the  tax-paj^ers  from  the  Territorial  Parish  ; 
then  a  Methodist  societ}^,  taking  away  another  portion ;  — 
and  now  a  Universalist   Society  had  just   been   formed, 
releasing  from  the  Parish  tax  another  considerable  number. 
And  he  protested  against  the  annual  imposition  upon  a  third 
of  the  people  of  a  burden  which  was  originally  assumed 
by  the  whole  town.     A  majority  of  the  voters  appeared  to 
be  of  the  same  opinion ;  for  the  proposition  to  assess  upon 
the  town  Rev.  Mr.  Ripley's  salary,  was  voted  down.     This 
was  virtually  his  dismissal  from  the  pastorate.     He  was 
left  without  employment.     And  this  was  the  fruit  of  his 
bigotry  and  folly,  in  attempting,  by  a  condemnatory  Post 
/Script,  to  turn  the  people   of  his  Parish  against  a  young 
candidate  for  the  office  of  school-teacher,  because  of  his 
religious  sentiments.     This  act  of  would-be  persecution  by 
the  parson  raised  and  extended  the  j^oung  man's  popularity, 
and  proved  his  own   overthrow.     The   formation  of  that 
society,  which  reduced  to  a  failure  the  paying  forces  to  Mr. 
Ripley's  salary,  was  not  the  result  of  my  direct  labors. 
But  that  unlucky  Post  Script  became  the  cause  of  an  ex- 
citement which  stirred  up  a  spirit  of  inquiry  that  conduced 
to  this  result.     And  the  whole  case  is  a  testimony  to  the 
doctrine,  that  it  is  the  true  policy  as  well  as  religious  duty 
of  a  Christian  young  man  to  be  always  faithful  to  his  God 
and  his  religion.     One  may  injure  himself  and  his  cause  by 
being   meddlesome,    and   querulous;   but   a  firm,  modest, 
respectful  and  devout  avowal  and  maintenance  of  the  en- 


72  nr.v.  sylvanus   cobb,  d.d. 

lightened  faitli  of  the  gospel,  will  gain  rather  than  forfeit 
the  confidence  of  the  wise  and  good  of  all  parties. 

It  is  with  pleasnre  that  I  am  able  to  record  the  fact,  that 
Rev.  Mr.  Ripley,  after  the  discontinuance  of  his  Parish 
salar}^  was  taken  into  the  patronage  of  the  American 
Missionary  Society. 


A.  D.  1820. 

Having  closed  the  third  of  my  before  mentioned  Water- 
ford  schools  the  last  of  April,  and  returned  to  the  paternal 
home,  I  forthwith  brought  to  a  point  my  decision  in  rela- 
tion to  the  business  of  m}^  life,  so  far  as  to  enter  upon  pre- 
liminar}^  arrangements  for  preparatory  study  for  the  Chris- 
tian ministry.  I  wrote  Rev.  Sebastian  Streeter,  who  was 
then  Pastor  of  the  Universalist  society  in  Portsmouth,  N. 
H.,  asking  leave  to  make  his  house  my  home  during  the 
ensuing  season.  He  answered  me  in  tones  of  fatherly 
affection,  and  bade  me  come  along  at  once,  and  enter  upon 
my  proposed  course  of  reading.  From  this  point  I  have 
recourse  to  a  regular  daily  journal,  w^hich  I  commenced  at 
this  juncture,  and  will  place  the  date  of  the  years  at  the 
head  of  the  succeeding  pages  of  this  work. 

3Iay  23cZ.  —  I  started  from  my  father's,  in  Norwaj^,  for 
Portsmouth,  N.  H.     Arrived  at  Portland  before  sunset. 

3fay  24,tJi.  —  In  the  morning,  took  passage  by  mail  stage 
for  Portsmouth,  where  I  arrived  about  noon.  I  forthwith 
repaired  to  father  Streeter's  house,  where  I  was  cordially 
greeted  by  himself  and  wife,  and  inducted  into  the  room 
which  was  to  be  my  Study  for  the  season.  I  immediately 
entered  upon  the  reading  of  ecclesiastical  and  general  his- 
tory ;  and  the  re-perusal  of  the  Scriptures  for  more  critically 
noting  the  bearings  and  connections  of  the  parts  with  each 


A.    D.    1820.  73 

other,  and  with  the  whole ;  and  the  construction  and 
writing  out  of  sermons. 

As  soon  as  the  second  Sabbath  in  June,  I  commenced 
my  Master's  work  as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel ;  and  that  in 
Rev.  Mr.  Streeter's  Church.  I  had  it  not  in  mind  that  I 
should  commence  preaching  until  I  should  have  returned, 
in  the  ensuing  autumn,  to  my  native  town.  But  in  the 
next  week  after  my  arrival  at  his  house,  father  Streeter 
said  to  me,  "  You  must  preach  in  my  desk  Sunday  after 
next."  "That,"  I  replied,  "  is  joking.  I  am  incompetent 
to  commence  preaching  so  soon.  And  to  make  my  debut 
in  so  large  and  popular  a  cit}^  congregation  —  it  is  out  of 
the  question."  I  spoke  as  I  felt.  I  was  naturally  diffident 
and  self-distrustful ;  and  had  only  been  conversant  with 
countrj^  society.  I  had  attended  meeting  there  one  Sun- 
day, and  viewed,  as  a  child  views  wonders,  the  elegant  and 
spacious  temple,  the  far  elevated  pulpit,  and  the  large  and 
fashionably  dressed  congregation  ;  and  the  thought  of  so 
soon  exhibiting  myself  in  that  pulpit,  before  that  congrega- 
tion, in  the  capacity  of  a  preacher,  veriW  appalled  me. 
"  It  is  of  no  use,"  said  I,  "to  talk  about  it." 

"  Well,"  said  my  imperturbable  teacher,  "  I  have  en- 
gaged to  preach  on  that  Sunday  in  Guilford,  N.  H.  ;  and 
my  people  hold  meetings  when  I  am  absent  on  a  Sabbath, 
and  Br.  Drown,  or  some  one,  reads  a  printed  sermon,  and 
leads  in  prayer.  And  they  will  require  these  services  of 
you ;  and  why  may  j^ou  not  as  well  read  a  sermon  of  your 
own?"  vSure  enough,  why  might  I  not?  Yet  the  reading 
of  a  sermon  of  my  own  would  be  preaching.  And  that 
was  the  idea  which  embarrassed  me.  And  this  question 
pressed  itself  upon  my  mind  the  week  through,  —  Shall 
I  PREACH  in  father  Streeter's  desk  Sunday  after  next 9  It 
was  urged  that  I  should  give  an  answer  before  the  then 
7 


74  nEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

ensuing  Sabbath,  that  definite  notice  might  be  given  from 
the  desk  with  regard  to  the  services  in  the  pastor's  absence. 
I  at  length  came  to  the  conclusion  that,  sink  or  swim,  I 
would  undertake  the  work  proposed.  The  following 
record  of  that  day's  service  I  copy  from  my  Diary :  — 

''June,  Second  Sahbatli.  —  I  preached  in  Rev.  Mr.  Streeter's 
Meeting  House;  in  the  forenoon,  from  Acts  xxvi.  22,  23;  and 
in  the  afternoon,  from  Mark  xvi.  15,  16.  *  *  *  In  the  morning 
I  waited  with  trembling  anxiety;  —  at  length  the  Church  bell 
called  me  forth.  I  entered  the  house  of  God,  and,  for  the  first 
time,  ascended  the  pulpit  stairs.  I  found  myself  seated  before 
a  large  and  enlightened  audience,  as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel 
of  the  Lord  Jesus.  This  is  a  new  scene,  and  a  time  for  serious 
reflections.  Here  am  I,  an  inexperienced  youth,  about  to  arise 
and  stand  before  the  great  congregation,  composed  of  the  aged, 
the  middle  aged,  youth  and  children,  to  expatiate  on  themes 
divine.  O,  my  God  !  be  thou  my  Guardian  and  Teacher,  —  my 
Confidence  and  my  Strength.  Trembling  I  arose,  and  com- 
menced the  services  of  the  occasion  ;  —  and  soon  my  fears  Avere 
fled,  and  the  divine  subject  alone  occupied  my  mind.  My 
trepidation  turned  into  enthusiasm,  and  I  felt  that,  in  answer 
to  my  prayers,  the  spirit  of  God  was  with  me." 

The  last  week  in  June  Br.  Streeter  attended  the  East- 
ern Association,  in  Paris,  Me.  Having  engaged  to  tarry 
over  the  succeeding  Sabbath,  the  first  in  Jul}^,  and  preach 
in  Norway,  he  left  his  pulpit  services  at  home  for  that 
Sunday  in  my  care.  Br.  De  La  Fayette  Mace,  of  Maine, 
came  along  Saturday  and  tarried  at  Br.  Streeter's  over 
Sunday.  By  my  invitation  he  preached  in  the  forenoon 
and  evening  ;  and  I  preached  in  the  afternoon.  The  con- 
gregations were  large  and  attentive. 

Juhj  28.  —  Having  received  an  invitation  to  spend  two  or 
three  weeks  in  Rochester,  N.  H.,  I  took  a  Dover  packet  at 
Portsmouth  at  12 J  o'clock  this  day,  and  arrived  at  Mr. 


A.    D.    1820.  75 

Nathaniel  Ela's,  Inn-keeper  in  Dover,  N.  H.,  at  3  J  p.  m. 
There  I  was  agreeabl}"  entertained  nntil  the  next  afternoon, 
when  I  was  called  upon  b}^  Mr.  Joseph  Cross  of  Eochester, 
and  conveyed  to  his  house.  Rochester  is  a  country  town, 
22  miles  from  Portsmouth,  and  10  from  Dover.  It  contains 
a  small  village,  pleasantly  situated.  Mr.  John  Smith's 
house  was  my  home  in  this  place.  I  preached  in  the  Vil- 
lage School  House  the  last  Sunday  in  July,  to  a  crowded 
audience,  among  whom  were  some  of  my  Portsmouth 
friends,  who  witnessed  my  first  endeavor  in  that  city. 

Here  I  had  another  severe  trial,  it  being,  in  an  impor- 
tant respect,  another  new  beginning.  When  father  Streeter 
informed  me  of  the  arrangement  he  had  made  for  me  at 
Rochester,  he  said,  "  Now,  Br.  Cobb,  the  Universalists  in 
Rochester  have  come  out  from  the  Methodists  and  Baptists, 
and  inherit  their  old  prejudices  against  note  preaching. 
Their  ministers  have  told  them  that  r-e-a-d  don't  spell 
lireacli.  You  must  extemporize.''  It  was  a  fearful  undertak- 
ing ;  but  I  did  not  hesitate.  I  had  made  it  m}^  rule  of  action 
from  earlj^  boyhood,  to  take  hold,  in  earnest,  of  any  good 
work  assigned  me,  either  by  decisive  circumstances  or  by  my 
superiors,  and  that  in  faith  ;  —  and  I  never  utterly  failed. 
In  this  case,  having  gone  up  to  Rochester  Friday,  I  had 
Saturday  for  preparation.  Yv^ith  my  two  manuscript  ser- 
mons for  the  ensuing  day,  I  spent  most  of  Saturday  among 
the  tall  elms  in  a  recently  mown  interval,  and  committed 
them  to  memor}^  as  well  as  might  be  in  so  short  a  time. 
With  this  preparation,  not  forgetting  m}^  helper,  God,  I 
went  into  my  appointed  meeting  at  the  ringing  of  the 
Sabbath  morning  bells,  and  entered  upon  the  responsible 
duties  of  the  day.  In  the  forenoon,  when  I  had  proceeded 
some  way  in  my  discourse,  having  closed  a  sentence,  the 
next  my  memory  failed  to  grasp.     I  could  not  recall  it, 


<6  HEV.    SYLVAMIii     COBD^    D.D. 

and  was  for  a  moment,  ''  out  of  my  row,"  and  my  head 
commenced  twirling.  But  instantl}'  I  bethought  m3'self  to 
repeat  the  last  sentence  with  increased  emphasis,  as  if  to 
impress  it  more  effectivel}^  upon  the  minds  of  my  hearers. 
I  say  —  said  I ;  and  proceeded  with  the  repetition  of  what 
was  then  so  familiar  that,  while  uttering  it,  I  could  be 
employing  my  mind  in  feeling  after  what  was  to  follow. 
And  I  caught  it,  and  proceeded  with  increased  confidence 
and  freedom.  And  I  have  never,  since  (and  I  write  this 
with  the  experience  of  fort3"-six  ^xars  in  the  ministry),  I 
haA'e  never,  since,  run  upon  a  hiatus,  or  lost  the  thread  of 
my  discourse,  in  public  speaking.  And  the  task  which 
father  Streeter  enforced  upon  me  at  this  early  day,  has 
proved  of  incalculable  benefit  to  me,  and  much  to  the  cause. 
If  there  had  not  been  a  necessity  for  it,  I  might  not  have 
put  myself  to  the  requisite  effort  to  qualify  for  extempo- 
raneous preaching.  B}^  being  thus  earty  "  broke  in,"  I 
w^as  the  better  qualified  to  adapt  myself  to  the  prejudices 
of  the  Universalists  of  Maine,  whose  primitive  preachers 
were  all  extemporizers  ;  and  also  to  occupy  the  positions 
in  Avhich  I  have  so  often  ])een  placed,  to  speak  in  pri- 
vate houses,  barns,  gi'oves,  and  from  the  doors  of  School 
Houses,  with  a  portion  of  the  audience  in  the  house, 
and  a  portion  in  the  yard.  For  about  five  years,  I 
wrote  most  of  m}^  sermons  in  full,  but  took  not  even  a 
"brief"  with  me  in  the  delivery.  I  did  not  commit  my. 
sermons  verbatim ;  but  looked  them  over  after  writing, 
and  gathered  up  the  succession  of  points,  and  fixed  these 
in  my  mind  so  that  I  could  see  the  chain  at  a  glance  ;  and 
then,  standing  before  the  people  with  the  spirit  of  the  gen- 
eral theme  in  the  heart,  and  a  desire  to  possess  their  minds 
of  the  truths  in  charge,  in  their  spirit  and  power,  the  Ian- 


A.    D.    1820.  77 

guage  in  which  I  had  written  them  came  generally  into 
familiar  use. 

I  have  spoken  of  this  method  as  running  through  the 
first  five  years  of  my  ministry  in  my  native  State.  When 
I  had  been  preaching,  half  of  the  time,  in  Waterville,  Me., 
about  that  number  of  years,  I  commenced  a  course  of  ex- 
pository sermons  on  the  Bible  in  course,  commencing  at 
the  beginning  of  Genesis,  and  treating  on  all  the  passages, 
in  consecutive  order,  which  seemed  to  me  to  have  any  con- 
siderable bearing  upon  doctrines,  of  faith  or  practice, 
through  to  the  end  of  Revelation.  The  series  was  com- 
prised in  nearly  a  hundred  discourses, — which,  as  I 
preached  but  half  the  time  in  Waterville,  and  generally 
delivered  these  only  in  the  forenoon,  run  through  nearly 
four  years.  These  discourses,  in  which  conciseness,  and 
extensive  reference,  and  comparison,  and  accuracy  of 
expression,  were  indispensable,  I  delivered  from  manu- 
script. So,  during  the  ten  years  of  my  regular  pastorate 
in  Maiden,  Mass.,  from  1828  to  1838,  the  difference  in 
circumstances  requiring  an  important  difference  in  the  style 
of  sermonizing  from  that  which  was  adapted  to  my  itinerant 
and  pioneer  labors  in  Maine,  more  concise  and  classical,  I 
usually  delivered  my  newly  arranged  sermons  from  manu- 
script. 

To  return  to  my  debut  in  Rochester,  N.   H. The 

Sabbath  of  which  I  was  speaking  passed  pleasantly,  and 
its  experience  afforded  me  much  assurance  of  the  Divine 
approval  of  my  choice  of  the  Christian  ministry  as  my  life- 
labor.  I  tarried  in  the  place  over  the  week ;  preached  a 
lecture  in  the  Court  House  Thursday  evening ;  and  held 
forth  again  in  the  School  House  the  next  Sunday,  which 
was  Aug.  6. 

Aug.  1th.  —  I  returned  as  far  as  Dover,  and  delivered  a 
7* 


78  BEV.    SYLVAN  us     COHB,    D.D. 

lecture  in  the  Court  House  in  that  place  in  the  evening.  I 
was  called  up  at  1  o'clock  the  next  morning  to  take  the 
packet  for  Portsmouth,  where  I  landed  at  sunrise. 

I  went  on  a  second  visit  to  Rochester  the  last  of  this 
week,  and  preached  in  the  same  School  House  two  more 
Sundays,  and  in  the  Court  House  on  the  intervening  Thurs- 
day evening. 

On  ni}^  return  to  Portsmouth,  I  preached  another  even- 
ing lecture  in  the  Court  House  in  Dover.  A  Dr.  Dow 
attempted  to  disturb  me  in  my  discourse,  by  placing  him- 
self erect  before  me,  but  a  few  feet  distant,  staring  me  in 
the  face,  and  often  making  an  audible  remark.  At  length 
I  said,  "  If  the  gentleman  wishes  to  make  a  disturbance,  I 
will  give  way  to  him  now."  With  his  face  crimsoning 
with  mortification,  he  sat  down.  At  the  close  of  the  ser- 
vice I  was  informed  that  the  Doctor  was  a  distinguished 
gentleman  when  sober,  and  that  he  was  then  partially  in- 
toxicated. Indeed  he  came  to  me  the  next  morning  with  a 
handsome  apology. 

At  the  close  of  my  discourse,  I  gave  liberty  for  remarks 
or  exhortation.  A  Freewill  Baptist  preacher  arose  and 
harangued  vociferously.  When  he  had  occupied  four  or 
five  minutes,  I,  perceiving  that  he  said  nothing  which  bore 
with  any  force  against  my  sentiments,  while  he  doubtless 
imagined  that  he  was  taking  me  down,  as  he  said,  "  We 
must  have  faith  ;  and  faith  is  the  gift  of  God."  I  shouted, 
"  Amen."  This  embarrassed  him ;  and  he  sat  down  sim- 
ultaneously with  the  utterance  of  these  words:  "But  I 
know  by  experience  that  unless  we  believe  in  this  world 
we  must  be  eternally  miserable."  I  then  arose  and  re- 
marked to  the  audience,  that  I  could  understand  and 
receive  all  the  gentleman's  sayings  except  the  last.  How 
he  could  have  experienced  eternal,  by  which  I  took  him  to 


A.    D.    1820.  79 

mean  endless  misery,  for  not  believing,  in  this  world,  I  was 
unable  to  understand,  and  wished  him  to  explain  it.  But 
he  was  silent  —  and  I  dismissed  the  meeting. 

Sunday^  Sept.  lltJi.  —  Br.  Streeter  being  indisposed,  and 
this  being  the  last  Sabbath  I  was  to  tarry  with  him  in  my 
preparatory  studies,  he  persuaded  me  to  perform  religious 
services  in  his  desk,  and  he  occupied  his  family  pew  as  a 
hearer. 


MY  EETUEN  HOME. 

Saturday,  Sept.  23cZ. —  I  went  from  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  to 
Portland,  Me.,  by  stage.  It  was  with  saddened  feelings 
that  I  left  Portsmouth  ;  for  several  circumstances  concurred 
strongly  to  attach  me  to  my  friends  in  that  place.  Br. 
Streeter  was  an  instrument  in  the  hand  of  God  of  clearing 
obstacles  from  my  way,  strengthening  my  hands,  confirm- 
ing my  heart,  and  moving  me  on  in  the  work  of  the  min- 
istry. His  amiable  family  was  bound  to  my  heart  by  ties 
of  strong  and  enduring  friendship,  and  also  a  large  circle 
of  brethren  and  sisters  in  the  faith,  with  whom  I  had  spent 
many  pleasant  social  hours,  who  listened  respectfully  to 
my  first  public  performance  in  the  Christian  pulpit,  and 
whose  conduct  towards  me  on  that  and  all  occasions, 
strengthened  and  encouraged  me  in  my  new  and  responsi- 
ble undertaking.  However,  I  took  the  remembrance  of 
them  along  with  me,  shook  off  the  pressure  of  melanchol}", 
and  cheerily  rode  again  to  my  loved  Maine,  and  to  the 
scenes  of  my  juvenile  years.  Here  I  have  the  nearest  rela- 
tions and  a  host  of  the  dearest  of  friends,  and  hither  my 
Master's  business  calls  me. 


80  IlEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,   D.D. 

THE   STAY   AT  PORTLAND. 

But  I  must  needs  take  Portland  on  my  way ;  and  Br. 
Streeter  had  sent  an  appointment  for  me  to  preach  in  that 
city  on  the  Sabbath.  I  arrived  at  Portland  about  sunset 
this  (Saturday)  eve,  and,  according  to  Br.  Streeter's 
direction,  called  upon  Br.  Horatio  G.  Quincy,  who  intro- 
duced me  into  the  family  of  Br.  Abraham  Beeman,  my 
assigned  home  during  my  tarr\^  in  town. 

But  I  found  father  Wm.  Far^vell,  of  Vermont,  at  Port- 
land, who  had  arrived  there  on  one  of  his  preaching  cir- 
cuits, and  had  given  out  an  appointment  for  the  coming 
Sabbath  before  the  notice  of  my  visit  was  received  by  the 
friends  in  that  place.  Of  course  I  would  not  even  divide 
the  day  with  the  old  patriarch,  but  would  hear  his  gospel 
messages  in  the  regular  services  of  the  day.  I  consented, 
however,  to  preach  in  the  evening. 

Having  been  long  absent  from  home,  I  had  calculated  on 
hastening  thither  Monda}^ ;  but  was  prevailed  upon  b}^  the 
solicitations  of  the  Portland  brethren  to  tarry  with  them 
over  the  week,  and  preach  there  the  next  Sunday,  which 
was  the  first  Sunday  in  October.     We  had  happy  meetings. 

THE   INVITATION. 

Monday  morning,  before  I  left  the  city,  a  Committee 
called  upon  me,  and  informed  me  that  they  were  deputed 
by  an  extemporaneous  meeting  of  friends  held  on  the  pre- 
vious (Sunday)  evening,  to  confer  with  me  on  the  question 
of  my  coming  to  them  on  the  ensuing  Spring,  when  I 
should  have  closed  my  school  term  for  which  I  was  en- 
gaged in  Norway  Village,  and  becoming  their  Pastor. 
They  were  a  voluntary  association,  had  employed  different 


A.    D.    1820.  81 

preachers  transiently,  but  were  then  without  any  arrange- 
ment for  preaching. 

I  told  them  that  their  proposition  distressed  me ;  that 
the  thought  of  tying  myself  down  so  soon  to  the  Pastoral 
charge  of  a  city  society  produced  a  stifling  sensation  ;  that 
I  intended  to  evangelize  over  the  hills  and  valle3's  of  Maine 
several  years,  making  the  acquaintance  of  mankind  and 
their  wants,  and  gaining  exercise  as  a  gospel  minister, 
before  I  would  settle  myself  down  thus.  I  never  have 
regi-etted  this  resolution  and  the  keeping  of  it. 

Oct.  5th.  —  I  arrived  at  the  old  homestead  in  Norway, 
again  to  meet  with  the  kindest  of  parents,  and  affectionate 
brothers  and  sisters  ;  and  to  roam,  in  the  town  whose  air 
was  the  first  I  breathed,  over  the  fields,  hills  and  dales 
which  were  my  earliest  range. 

On  the  following  Sundaj^  I  preached  in  Norway,  in  the 
first  Universalist  Meeting  House  ever  built  in  Maine.  It 
excited  me  with  indescribable  emotions,  to  stand  there  in 
the  pulpit  of  the  Barnses,  the  Roots,  the  Farwells,  and  the 
Streeters,  and,  in  the  capacity  of  a  minister  of  the  gospel, 
face  and  address  those  who  had  borne  me  in  their  arms  ere 
I  could  walk  alone  ;  neighbors  who  had  been  familiar  with 
my  wa3^s  from  earliest  childhood,  including  the  old  severe 
school-master  who  taught  me  to  read  and  spell  my  abs,  and 
boxed  my  ears  for  mistakes  ;  my  father,  brothers,  citizens 
of  all  religious  denominations,  and  playmates  of  all 
grades.  And,  to  add  to  my  trepidation,  there  were  seated 
before  me  the  Preceptor  of  my  previous  autumn's  Academic 
studies,  and  a  party  of  his  students,  my  schoolmates,  with 
countenances  indicating  a  disposition  to  listen  as  critics. 
I  spoke  without  manuscript,  and  the  Lord  supported  and 
blessed  me.     It  was  to  me  a  great  da}^ 

And  I  may  as  well  record  at  this  stage  of  progress  in  my 


82  liEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

narrative,  what  I  am  in  duty  and  lionor  bound  to  place  prom- 
inently on  record,  of  my  appreciation  of  the  noble  hearted 
kindness  of  the  members,  without  exception,  of  the  Uni- 
Tcrsalist  society  in  my  native  town.  Several  of  the  elder 
members  expressed  to  me  their  desire  and  expectation  that 
I  should  make  the  ministry  my  calling,  before  I  had  enter- 
tained the  thought  of  doing  so  myself.  And  after  I 
entered  upon  the  work,  they  all  gave  me  their  sympathy 
and  God-speed.  There  was  never,  even  with  those  who 
had  been  my  playmates  and  school-fellows,  the  least  man- 
ifestation' of  emy,  or  spirit  of  detraction  in  any  form. 
They  all  seemed  to  feel  an  interest  in  the  honorable  suc- 
cess of  their  own  native  townsman.  Br.  Ichabod  Bartlett, 
one  of  the  j^oung  men  of  the  society,  being  Agent  of  the 
Village  District,  engaged  me,  on  excellent  wages  for  the 
time,  to  teach  that  school  three  months  in  the  winter  ;  the 
leading  Universalist  families  in  the  Village  gave  me  my 
board  in  rotation,  permitting  me  to  draw  the  board  money 
from  the  Town  Treasury  in  addition  to  m}^  salary.  At  the 
same  time  the  societj'  kept  me  at  preaching  nearly  all  the 
Sabbaths,  rendering  me  what,  for  the  time  and  the  circum- 
stances, was  a  liberal  compensation,  three  dollars  a  Sab- 
bath. This,  I  say,  was,  for  the  time  and  circumstances, 
a  liberal  compensation.  For  the  regular  stipend  per  week, 
in  those  days,  for  the  veteran  preachers,  the  Roots, 
Barnses,  Farwells,  &c.,  was  but  five  dollars.  At  that 
price  the  Norway  society  had  only  been  able  to  have 
preaching  one  Sunday  in  a  month ;  so  that,  to  pay  this 
stripling,  who  had  come  up  among  themselves,  and  was 
engaged,  on  good  wages,  in  school  keeping,  three  dollars  a 
week  regularly,  was  indeed  generous.  Altogether  the 
funds  which  my  friends  here  put  me  in  the  w^aiy  of  acquiring 
this  winter,  enabled  me  to  pay  up  all  arrearages  of  my 


A.    D.    1820.  83 

educational  expenditures,  and  to  start  out  into  the  world 
with  an  elastic  step.  God's  blessing  forever  upon  the 
UniA'ersalist  society  in  Norway.  Whatever  of  good  may 
accrue  to  the  world  from  my  humble  professional  labors,  is 
owing  in  a  great  measure,  under  God,  to  the  early  encour- 
agement and  support  to  their  child,  of  the  Universalist 
society  in  Norway. 

I  will  now  return  to  the  point  of  my  Journal  from  which 
I  diverged  for  my  panegyric  upon  the  Norway  society. 

I  had  described  my  debut  in  Norway  in  the  capacity  of 
a  preacher,  the  second  Sunday  in  October.  I  preached 
there  also  on  the  third  and  fourth  Sundays  in  October ; 
delivered  a  lecture  in  Enoch  Edwards'  neighboi'hood  in 
Otisfield  on  the  19th ;  and  a  lecture  in  Fryeburg  on  the 
27th. 

NOVEMBER,  1820. 

FIRST     MISSIONARY     TOUR. 

This  month  comprised  my  first  missionary  tour  in  the 
capacity  of  a  Christian  Evangelist.  One  of  the  primitive 
members  of  the  Universalist  society,  Nathaniel  Bennett, 
hearing  that  I  purposed  making  such  a  tour,  tendered  me 
the  use  of  a  young  horse,  scarcely  broken  to  the  saddle, 
for  the  excursion  in  equestrian  style.  My  purpose  was  to 
extend  my  tour  eastward  as  far  as  Waterville,  making  calls 
on  the  way  in  Livermore  and  Winthrop,  where  I  had  been 
informed  of  the  existence  of  Universalist  societies.  (I 
was  in  no  danger  of  intruding  upon  any  other  preacher's 
charge,  for  there  was  not  at  the  time  a  settled  Universalist 
preacher  in  the  State  of  Maine.  Dr.  Joseph  Butterfield, 
who  itinerated  somewhat,  was  residing  in  Fryeburg ;  Fay- 


84  EEF.    SYLVANVS     COBB,    D.D. 

ette  Mace,  of  Strong,  had  preached  a  few  times,  but  was 
doing  nothing ;  and  Wm.  A.  Drew,  then  teacher  of  an 
Academy  in  Farmington,  had  conducted  Sabbath  services 
a  few  times  in  that  town.  Fathers  Thomas  Barnes  and 
Isaac  Eoot,  who  were  energetic  and  efficient  laborers  in 
their  time,  had  passed  away  from  this  field  of  labor.  Thus 
nearly  destitute  of  public  servants  was  the  Universalist 
Zion  of  the  ^'  Pine  Tree  State,"  when  I  entered  upon  my 
ministerial  profession.) 

I  started  on  my  tour  about  the  middle  of  the  week,  that 
I  might  have  time  to  get  up  an  appointment,  with  suitable 
notices,  for  the  Sabbath.  I  had  been  furnished,  by  some 
Norway  friend,  with  the  name  of  Abijah  Munroe,  of  Liv- 
ermore,  as  a  leading  Universalist.  He  kept  a  tavern,  and 
a  minister's  home.  The  name  of  Israel  Washburn,  Esq., 
was  also  given  me,  as  a  working  brother  in  the  faith.  He 
was  the  father  of  Israel  Washburn,  Jr.,  who  has  repre- 
sented his  District  in  Congress  several  terms,  and  sustained 
the  office  of  Governor  of  his  State  several  years.  Another 
of  his  sons  has  represented  a  District  of  Illinois  in  Con- 
gress a  series  of  years.  I  called  upon  these  gentlemen, 
and  received  a  cordial  welcome  to  the  hospitalities  of  their 
homes.  I  found  in  them  responsive  spirits  to  the  love  of 
the  gospel ;  and  they  arranged  and  duly  notified  for  a 
meeting  on  the  Sabbath,  when  I  preached  to  good  congre- 
gations. 

Early  in  the  week  I  proceeded  on  my  way  to  Winthrop. 
Passing  through  Peadfield,  I  called  upon  John  Smith,  Esq., 
an  intelligent,  wealthy  and  zealous  friend  of  the  cause. 
He  made  me  feel  at  home  at  his  house,  where  I  tarried  by 
his  invitation  several  days.  In  compliance  with  his 
arrangements  I  preached  two  evening  lectures  in  the  large 
School  House  of  the  Village,  which  w^as  called  "  Readfield 


A.    D.    1820.  85 

Corner."  The  acqiiaintauce  thus  earl}^  formed  with  him 
contributed  greatly  to  m}^  subsequent  benefit. 
.  The  latter  part  of  the  week  I  rode  down  to  "Winthrop, 
six  miles,  where  I  preached  on  the  Sabbath.  This  was  the 
second  Sabbath  in  November,  1820.  A  snow  storm  pre- 
vailed through  the  day ;  but  we  had  pleasant  meetings  in 
a  Brick  School  House.  Jacob  Nelson,  John  Morrill,  E. 
Snell,  Abial  Pitts,  Perley,  Fairbanks  and  Fillebrown  were 
leading  members  of  this  society. 

Nov.  14.  — - 1  delivered  an  evening  lecture  in  a  School 
House  in  Winthrop,  near  Br.  Elliot  Snell's. 

Ibth.  —  I  left  Winthrop  on  my  w^ay  for  Waterville,  via 
Hallowell.  Br.  Glidden  advised  me  to  go  by  the  back 
road  through  Sidney,  and  call  upon  Capt.  Nathan  Sawtell, 
who  was  a  prominent  Universalist,  and  attended  the  meet- 
ings of  our  order  in  Waterville,  where  I  proposed  to  get 
up  an  appointment  for  the  next  Sabbath.  The  following  I 
copy  from  my  original  Journal,  which  is  a  transcript  of  the 
life  of  the  day  as  it  was  :  — 

*'  The  badness  of  the  roads  made  riding  slow  and  tedious. 
The  shoes  of  my  borrowed  colt  were  smooth ;  the  recently  fallen 
snow  and  sleet  had  made  the  roads  slippery;  and  the  riding 
upon  saddle  was  attended  with  some  danger.  I  became  uncom- 
monly weary  before  I  reached  Capt.  Sawtelfs,  and  my  sj^irits 
were  sorely  depressed.  The  prospect  api^eared  dark;  and 
clouds  of  gloom  hung  over  my  mind.  I  saw  no  beings  but 
strangers ;  and  none  ahead  knew  that  I  was  coming,  —  or  even 
that  such  a  person  existed.  (It  was  a  new  thing  to  go  out  into 
a  strange  country,  and  i7iirocluce  myself  as  a  preacher  of  the 
gospel.  There  was  no  denominational  paper  circulating  in  the 
State  through  which  to  notify  apj)ointments  or  proi:)osed  tours, 
or  even  to  announce  to  the  members  of  societies,  and  the  behev- 
ers  scattered  abroad,  the  advent  of  the  new  preacher.  ISTorwas 
there  even  an  older  preacher  in  the  State  who  could  be  of  ser- 
vice to  me  in  the  way  of  my  introduction  to  a  field  of  labor.) 


86  nEv:  sylvan  us   cobb^  d.d. 

"To  return  to  my  narrative:  —  I  inquired  impatiently  and 
looked  wistfully  for  the  residence  of  Capt.  Sawtell.  But 
wlien  I  had  turned  up  into  the  lane  leading  to  liis  house,  I  had 
sad  misgivings ;  and  seeing  the  old  gentleman  withing  up  the 
stakes  of  his  pigs'  pen,  with  a  stern  countenance  and  a  face 
unshaven  for  the  week,  I  expected  a  rei)ulse.  The  following 
colloquy  ensued :  — 

"  ♦  Is  this  Capt.  Sawtell  ?  '      > 

"  *My  name  is  Sawtell.' 

"'My  name  is  Sylvanus  Cobb.  I  am  on  my  way  to  Water- 
ville  to  spend  the  Sabbath,  and  Br.  Glidden,  of  Winthrop,  ad- 
vised me  to  call  upon  you.' 

"  '  What !  are  you  a  i)reacher  ?  ' 

"  '  I  have  preached  a  little.' 

"  '  Well,  come,  get  off  your  horse  and  come  in,  and  spend  the 
night  with  me.  You  will  find  homel}^  fare.  But  it  will  hb  good 
enough  for  you  if  you  are  a  Universalist  preacher.' 

"  I  can  report  nothing  more  that  was  said,  in  detail,  for  I  was 
enchanted  with  the  scenes  of  a  new  state  of  being.  The  un- 
studied, unpolished  address  of  the  old  Saint,  which  was  the  out- 
gushing  of  the  genuine  spirit  of  confidence  and  love,' toned  by 
emotions  of  joy  at  the  appearance  of  a  young  minister  of  the 
universal  and  efl[icient  Saviour,  instantly  dissipated  the  cloud 
from  my  mind,  banished  my  distrust,  and  made  me  a  lively  child 
at  home.  It  would  be  difiicult  to  decide  which  of  us  two  was 
made  most  happy  by  our  meeting  together,  and  by  the  convev- 
sation  of  the  evening.     It  was  a  pleasant  occasion  to  me.  " 

Nov.  lQ>tli.  —  It  was  now  Wednesday ;  so  that  I  had  time 
to  go  up  to  Waterville,  3'et  ten  miles,  and  make  the  acquaint- 
ance there  of  several  brethren,  and  get  out  good  notice  of 
the  preaching,  before  the  Sabbath.  Capt.  Sawtell  furnished 
me  with  the  names  of  several  of  the  leading  members  of 
the  W^aterville  societj^,  among  whom,  in  the  East  Village, 
were  Alpheus  Lyon,  Esq.,  Maj.  Richard  Montgomery  Dorr, 
Maj.  Ebenezer  Balcomb,  and  Elah  Esty  ;  and  in  the  West 
part  of  the  town,  Thos.  Cook,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  McFarland, 
and  Elisha  Hallett. 


A.    D.    1820.  87 

Sunday,  Nov.  20.  —  I  preached  in  the  East  Village  Meet- 
ing House  in  Waterville.  Br.  Thomas  Cook,  who  lived 
about  two  miles  out,  took  me  home  with  him  after  the  ser- 
vices, with  whom  I  had  a  pleasant  home  for  the  night. 

Monday  morning.  —  Maj.  Balcomb  rode  out  from  the  Vil- 
lage early,  that  he  might  see  me  before  I  should  start  on 
my  homeward  way,  and  proposed  inquiries  in  relation  to 
the  probabilit}^  of  my  willingness  to  enter  into  a  regular 
engagement  with  them  on  the  ensuing  season,  after  closing 
my  Winter  school  in  Norway. 

Capt.  Sawtell  did  not  allow  the  opportunity  to  slip,  for 
having  a  message  from  the  young  preacher  in  his  neighbor- 
hood. He  had  an  appointment  for  me  to  preach  in  his 
District  School  House  this  Monday  evening.  When  I  had 
closed  my  services,  a  young  Baptist  preacher  by  the  name 
of  Samuel  Dinsmore  charged  me  with  speaking  peace  when 
the  Lord  had  not  spoken  peace.  I  asked  him  to  inform  us 
when  and  on  what  conditions  the  Lord  had  spoken  peace. 
But  his  only  reply  was  a  furious  rush  out  of  doors. 

Tuesday  evening,  2'2d.  —  I  preached  a  lecture  in  Read- 
field.  Thence  I  proceeded  to  the  old  home,  terminating 
my  first  missionary  tour,  which  furnished  me  with  much 
work,  an  important  quantity  of  experience,  and  valuable 
acquaintance  v/hich  opened  to  me  a  field  of  abundant  and 
permanent  labor  to  be  forthwith  entered,  on  the  ensuing 
spring,  at  the  close  of  my  previously  engaged  term  of 
school-keeping  in  Norwa}'  Village. 

Dec.  11th. — I  commenced  teaching  in  the  public  school 
in  Norway  Village,  for  a  three  months'  term.  It  was,  to 
me,  an  interesting  school.  I  had  the  attendance  of  several 
young  gentlemen  and  ladies  older  than  usually  attended 
the  Common  Schools,  who  were  advanced  scholars  in  the 
higher  English  branches  of  education.     Yet  my  charge  was 


88  IlEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

exceedingly  laborious,  —  the  number  of  scholars  averaging 
about  eight}^,  and  the  School  House  being  cold,  and  the 
benches  ricket}',  as  it  was  about  to  be  displaced  by  a  new 
one,  and  therefore  the  Committee  would  not  spend  money 
to  put  it  in  decent  repair. 

1821. 

JANUARY   AND    FEBRUARY. 

I  continued  my  school  in  Norway  through  these  two 
months,  and  preached  ever}^  Sabbath,  and  also  some  week 
evening  lectures.  Most  of  my  ministerial  labors  were 
occupied  Avith  the  Norwa}''  society ;  but  I  preached  a  few 
times  in  Paris  and  Waterford. 

March  Gth.  —  I  closed  mj^  school  in  Norway.  And  this 
terminated  my  mission,  in  which  I  had  taken  great  pride, 
and  not  a  little  pleasure,  in  the  capacity  of  the  School 
Master. 

And  here,  I  will  record  my  speculative  and  practical 
theory  of  school  government,  as  it  regards  the  use  of 
corporeal  punisliment  as  a  disciplinary  instrumentalit3^  I 
never  emphasized  it  as  a  prominent  governing  force,  nor 
named  it  as  a  fixed  penalty  for  the  transgression  of  any 
standing  law.  But  I  held  it  as  my  right  and  dutj^  to  em- 
ploy such  punishment  at  my  option,  w^henever  I  judged  it 
to  be  requisite  to  break  down  a  stubborn  and  brutally  insub- 
ordinate spirit.  It  was  my  dernier  resort.  And,  in  my 
four  long  winter  seasons  of  school  keeping,  I  administered 
corporeal  punishment  but  in  very  few  instances.  I  can 
now  remember  but  two  in  all.  And  these  were  cases  in 
wiiich  I  was  necessitated  to  it  by  extreme  perversity  and 
insolence,  when  I  had  exhausted  "  moral  suasion,"  and 
further  forbearance  on  my  part  would  have  been  tameness 


A.    D.    1821.  89 

and  submission.  But  I  did  not  strike  a  blow  (the  ferule 
was  the  instrument),  until  I  had,  by  affecting  conversation, 
softened  my  indignation  into  tenderness,  explained  to  the 
subjects  of  the  punishment  that  they  had  forced  upon  me 
this  painful  service  for  their  good  and  that  of  the  school. 
And  then  I  made  thorough  work  of  it,  continued  the  appli- 
cation to  the  attainment  of  humble  submission.  Thus  was 
m}^  authority  strengthened,  and  the  school  benefited. 

But  the  general  absence  of  beating  and  threshing  did  not 
involve  looseness  of  school  government.  I  did  not  and 
could  not  go  on  with  the  exercises  of  the  school  in  disorder. 
The  scholars  were  trained  to  a  feeling  and  habit  of  oneness 
with  me  in  the  love  and  choice  of  order.  Thej^  were  a 
little  self-governing  republic.  Whenever  I  was  called  to 
the  outer  door  to  receive  and  answer  the  verbal  communi  - 
cation  of  a  friend,  the  school  would  continue  busied  in  their 
studies  in  the  same  beautiful  order  as  when  I  stood  in  my 
desk  with  my  e3'es  upon  them.  It  was  my  happiness  to 
enjoy  the  mutual  confidence  and  love  of  master  and  school. 

THE   OPENING   TO   MINISTERIAL   LABOR. 

Some  time  during  my  school  term,  I  received  a  letter 
signed  by  John  Smith,  of  Readfield,  and  John  Morrill,  of 
Winthrop,  as  Committee  of  the  Universalist  Societ}^  of 
Readfield  and  AYinthrop,  informing  me  that  the  Eastern 
Association  of  Universalists  was  to  meet  in  Winthrop  the 
last  Wednesday  and  Thursday  in  June  proximo,  and  invit- 
ing me  to  visit  them  forthwith  after  closing  my  school,  and 
preach  with  them  regularly  till  the  meeting  of  the  Associa- 
tion. This  call  was  an  out-growth  of  ni}^  November  tour 
eastward. 

March  9th.  —  This  day  I  left  Norway  for  m}^  new  but 
8* 


90  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB^  D.D. 

temporar}^  field  of  labor,  distinctively  in  the  capacity  of  a 
Christian  minister,  in  compliance  with  the  call  above  noted. 
And,  though  I  did  not  contemplate  the  movement  in  that 
light  at  the  time,  a  recognition  of  which  would  have  over- 
whelmed me  with  sadness,  —  it  proved  to  be  my  final  de- 
parture from  my  native  town  as  my  stated  home.  It  fills 
me  with  indescribable  emotions  now,  when  I  bring  it  be- 
fore me  at  this  writing,  45  j^ears  afterwards.  Blessed 
home  it  was  to  my  early  years  !  A  noble  community  was 
that  town.     I  have  borne  only  pleasant  memories  of  it.* 

On  my  way  to  my  new  field  of  labor,  I  preached  an 
evening  lecture  at  the  house  of  Br.  Joshua  Whitman  in 
Turner,  and  spent  a  Sabbath's  labor  in  Livermore. 

*  NOTE  BY  THE  MEMOIRIST. 

Nearly  half  a  century  had  elapsed  when  Mr.  Cobb  made  his  last  visit  to  the 
scenes  of  those  early  days.  He  had,  as  often  as  was  consistent  with  other  du- 
ties, been  in  the  habit  of  revisiting  the  old  home,  to  draw  inspiration  from  the 
hallowed  influences  that  clustered  about  the  place  of  that  family  altar  where 
first  he  had  been  taught  to  raise  his  voice  in  prayer  and  praise  to  God,  and  where 
had  been  bestowed  upon  him  the  priceless  inheritance  of  parental  love.  One 
after  another  of  those  wliom  he  had  loved  had  fallen  asleep  upon  the  verge  of 
the  dark  valley,  to  awaken  in  the  brighter  realm  beyond;  but  still  there  were 
loved  ones  left  to  welcome  him  whenever  he  came  to  his  native  town.  When  he 
made  this  last  visit  I  had  my  home  in  the  town  of  Norway,  and  of  course  it  was 
beneath  my  roof  that  he  sought  shelter  and  repose.  The  old  burial-ground, 
where  the  mortal  remains  of  his  departed  kindred  had  been  placed  in  sepulchre, 
away  on  the  summit  of  a  distant  hill,  he  had  not  visited  since  the  death  of 
his  brother  Cyrus,  and  he  expressed  to  me  the  wish  that  I  would  walk  up  there 
with  him. 

It  was  a  calm,  beautiful  afternoon  in  October.  The  sun  was  sinking  towards 
the  toi>s  of  the  White  Mountains,  that  loomed  up  in  the  dim  distance  as  though 
offering  their  bed  of  purple  down  to  the  departing  monarch  of  the  day,  and  the 
broad  line  of  forest  that  flanked  the  adjacent  fields  was  robed  in  its  rich  garnish- 
ment of  beautifully  varying  and  softly  harmonizing  autumnal  tints.  As  we  ap- 
proached the  hallowed  spot  our  conversation  Avas  dropped,  and  when  we  came 
to  thread  tlie  grassy  aisles  that  wound  around  among  the  clustering  graves  our 
steps  were  slow  and  solemn.  I  caught  my  cue  from  the  manner  of  him  who  led 
the  way.  Other  graves  were  noted  before  we  came  to  the  gentle  mounds  that 
arose  above  the  mouldering  remains  of  those  to  whose  resting-places  the  sweet 
sentiment  of  filial  love  would  incline  us.  Here  rested  all  that  was  mortal  of  a 
school-mate  whom  my  father  had  loved  in  those  other  years ;  there  reposed  tlie 
remains  of  one  who  had  been  his  friend  and  benefactor ;  and  anon  we  came  to  a 
stone  which  bore  the  name  of  one  who  had  received  benefit  at  his  hands.    And 


A.   D.    1821.  91 

From  this  time  I  devoted  my  Sabbath  labors  constantly 
to  the  united  society  of  Winthrop  and  Eeadfield,  to  the 
last  of  June,  when  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Eastern 
Association  was  held  in  Winthrop. 

May  8tJi. —  By  invitation  of  Samuel  Locke,  Esq.,  of 
Hallo  well,  I  delivered  an  evening  lecture  in  the  "  Reading 
Room  "  in  that  place,  which  was  the  first  Universalist  dis- 
course preached  in  Hallowell.  My  text  was  Ps.  Ixii.  12  : 
"Also  unto  thee,  O  Lord,  belongeth  mercy  :  for  thou  ren- 
derest  to  every  man  according  to  his  work/'  On  the  suc- 
ceeding evening.  May  9th,  I  preached  a  lecture  in  a  School 
House  at  the  Forks  of  the  Roads  in  Hallowell. 

May  31st.  —  Journeying  on  the  way  to  visit  my  parents 

so  we  moved  on,  until  at  length  we  reached  the  marble  slab  that  bore  the  name 
of  my  father's  honored  brother.  And  here  he  told  to  me  how  true  and  faithful 
that  brother  had  been ;  and  how,  through  all  the  days  and  years  of  their  bjpyhood 
together  there  had  not  been  one  single  passage  of  ill  that  could  now  give  pain  in 
the  recollection. 

Near  at  hand  were  two  grey,  mossy  stones,  one  marking  where  reposed  the 
ashes  of"  A  Soldier  of  the  Revolution,"  and  the  other,  the  resting-place  of  the 
remains  of  the  companion.  Two  graves  hallowed  and  sanctified !  As  my  father 
slowly,  and  with  reverent  steps,  approached  them,  I  saw  that  his  lips  trembled, 
and  that  his  eyes  were  flooded.  His  manner  invited  no  mortal  companionship, 
and  I  withdrew  to  a  respectful  distance  to  view  the  scene.  A  few  moments  he 
stood,  with  his  head  bowed,  and  his  hand  resting  upon  the  stone  that  bore  his 
father's  name ;  and  then  he  moved  on  a  pace  and  leaned  upon  the  tablet  where- 
on was  inscribed  the  name  of  his  mother.  Then  I  saw  him  uncover  his  head,  and 
sink  upon  his  knees ;  and,  as  even  now  while  I  write,  the  tears  gather  in  my 
eyes,  so  they  gathered  then  until  my  vision  became  dim  and  uncertain,  and  I 
bowed  my  head  in  silent  sympathy  with  him  whose  soul  was  in  sweet  and  holy 
communion  with  the  spirits  of  another  world  I 

The  sun  had  sunk  to  its  rest  when  my  father  arose  to  his  feet;  and  silently  we 
wended  our  way  from  the  consecrated  ground.  Away  upon  the  distant  moun- 
tains, where  the  lord  of  day  had  taken  his  departure,  the  heavens  were  batlied 
in  richest  effulgence,  giving  to  us  token  that  the  bright  orb  had  lost  none  of  its 
glory;  and  though  the  night  was  coming,  yet  beyond  the  verge  of  our  narrow 
ken,  new-born  splendors  were  rejoicing  other  eyes. 

In  all  the  time  to  come  I  think  there  can  be  no  memory  of  the  past  that  shall 
throw  around  my  father's  form  for  me  so  much  of  simple  grandeur  and  hallowed 
import,  as  shall  the  memory  of  that  time  when  I  saw  him,  with  his  head  bare 
and  bent,  reverently  kneel  in  prayer  at  the  graves  of  his  revered  and  ever  hon- 
ored parents  1  S.  C,  Jr. 


92  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

in  Norway,  in  passing  through  Buckfield  Village  I  was 
recognized  by  Dr.  Bridgham,  who  prevailed  upon  me  to 
tarr}'  and  preach  in  that  village  in  the  evening,  and  forth- 
with sent  out  notices  of  the  meeting.  We  had  a  good 
gathering,  in  the  Academy  building. 

June.  —  On  the  Second  Sunday  in  this  month  I  preached 
in  Waterville,  being  invited  b}'  the  Committee  of  the  soci- 
ety there  to  do  so,  for  the  attainment  of  a  further  acquaint- 
ance with  reference  to  subsequent  arrangements.  On  my 
wa}^  out  I  visited  Hallowell  again,  and  preached  two  suc- 
cessive evening  lectures,  one  on  each  side  of  the  river. 

THE   EASTERN   ASSOCIATION. 

The  following  I  copy  from  my  Journal :  — 

"  June  2QtJi.  —  The  following  brethren,  viz.,  Russell  Streeter, 
Wm.  Frost,  Fayette  Mace,  Wm.  A.  Drew,  and  Josei3h  Butter- 
field,  met  me  at  the  house  of  Br.  Jacob  Nelson,  in  Winthrop, 
and  formed  a  constitution  for  the  future  regulation  of  the  East- 
ern Association  of  Universalists. 

"  27tJi.  The  Association  met  as  per  adjournment  of  the  last 
year.     The  public  services  were  as  follows  :  — 

*'  In  the  forenoon,  sermon  by  Br.  Mace,  from  Rom.  viii.  16, 
17. 

'*  In  the  afternoon  Br.  Streeter  preached,  from  Isa.  xxxv.  10. 

"  In  the  evening  a  discourse  w^as  delivered  by  Br.  Levi 
Briggs,  a  visiting  clergyman  from  Orange,  Mass.,  from  Eph. 
vi.  U. 

"MY    ORDINATION. 

"  Thursday  the  2^tli.  —  In  the  forenoon,  Br.  Drew  preached, 
from  John  xix.  30. 

"After  the  sermon  Br.  Fayette  Mace  and  myself  were  pub- 
licly and  in  due  form  ordained  to  the  work  of  the  Gospel  Min- 
istr}^ 

"The  Ordaining  Prayer  was  offered  by  our  most  worthy 
Brother,  Wm.  Frost,  of  Lisbon. 


A.   D.    1821.  93 

"  Charge,  by  Br.  J.  Butterfield,  of  Farmington. 

"  Kight  Hand  of  Fellowship,  by  Br.  Levi  Briggs,  of  Orange, 

Mass." 

The  following  reflections  I  penned  in  my  Journal  at  this 
point :  — 

"  How  great  is  the  responsibility  which  we  have  taken  upon 
ourselves.  How  important  the  work  to  which  we  are  thus 
formally  ordained,  and  in  which  we  have  thus  solemnly  pledged 
ourselves  to  be  faithful.  May  the  God  of  all  power  and  grace 
hold  our  hands  and  keep  us,  '  so  that  we  may  finish  our  course 
with  joy,  and  the  ministry  that  we  have  received  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  to  testify  of  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God.' " 

The  following  is  my  original  Journal  of  the  close  of  that 
Associational  meeting :  — 

"After  service  we  retired  to  the  Council  Hall,  closed  the 
business  of  the  session,  and  adjourned  to  meet  in  Turner  the 
last  Wednesday  and  Thursday  of  June  1822.  The  ministering 
brethren  found  it  an  affecting  occasion  when  they  took  leave  of 
each  other.  But  we  hope  to  meet  again  on  earth :  if  not  we 
shall  meet  in  our  Father's  kingdom  above. 

'  Our  hearts  were  warm,  our  bosoms  glowed, 
And  tears  of  friendship  freely  flowed. 
But  then  we  turned  our  thoughts  above, 
And  smiled  for  joy  in  Jesus'  love." 

At  this  point  of  time  I  had  closed  my  engagement  with 
the  Winthrop  and  Eeadfield  society.  The  Committee 
originally  asked  for  my  services  up  to  the  meeting  of  the 
Association.  By  a  new  arrangement  I  continued  to  preach 
for  them  about  once  a  month  the  rest  of  this  and  through 
the  succeeding  year.  But  from  this  time,  after  a  few 
weeks  spent  in  visiting  the  scenes  of  my  childhood,  and 
preaching  to  the  beloved  people  there,  I  took  up  my  abode 
in  Waterville,  and  made  that  my  home  for  about  seven 


94  hev.  sylvanus   cobd^  d.d. 

years.  The  Committee  of  the  Waterville  society  came  to 
the  Association  at  Winthrop,  instructed  to  engage  me  if 
practicable,  to  go  and  dwell  with  them,  and  preach  for 
them  one  half  of  the  time.  Such  an  engagement  was  con- 
summated. 

But  before  passing  on  to  the  journal  of  the  succeeding 
stage  of  my  life  labors,  I  must  tarry  and  place  on  record 
m}^  grateful  appreciation  of  the  friendships  here  formed, 
and  an  incident  or  two  of  my  experience,  in  this  first  field 
of  m}'  pastoral  services.  During  this  three  months'  term, 
in  the  responsible  ministerial  charge  of  a  religious  society, 
I  shared  the  undeviating  fraternal  sympathy  and  kind 
regards  of  the  people  of  my  charge,  and  the  respectful 
attentions  of  the  citizens  of  all  denominations.  I  was 
informed  that  Parson  Thurston,  the  Trinitarian  Congrega- 
tional clergj-man  of  Winthrop,  Pastor  of  the  "  Town 
Parish,"  for  what  ultimate  purpose  it  is  not  necessary  for 
me  to  hint,  wrote  his  brother  in  ecclesiastical  fellowship, 
Dea.  Benj.  Herring,  of  Norway,  and  of  the  School  District 
in  which  I  was  born  and  reared,  asking  in  relation  to  the 
character  of  the  3'oung  Universalist  preacher  then  in  his 
field  of  labor.  The  answer  was  such  that  it  was  not 
deemed  politic  b}^  the  parson  to  make  public  report  of  it ; 
but  he  showed  it  to  some  of-  his  friends  who  reported  to  my 
friends,  that  Dea.  Herring  wrote  in  answer  that  the  j^oung 
man  in  question  had  been  noted  in  childhood  for  manliness 
and  virtuous  living,  admonishing  the  Parson  that  he  would 
never  succeed  in  diminishing  his  ministerial  influence  by 
any  overhauling  of  his  moral  character.  That  he  regarded 
as  invulnerable.  The  reader  may  be  assured  that  I  was 
caused  by  this  incident  to  profoundly  appreciate  the  value 
to  m3'self,  my  religious  friends,  and  the  cause  of  which  I 
was  an  ambassador,  of  the  character  of  my  childhood  and 


A.    D.    1821.  95 

youth.  If  that  determined  enemy  of  the  great  and  glori- 
ous faith  which  I  preached,  liad  been  able  to  pick  up  even 
a  juvenile  error  or  ^^outhful  indiscretion  in  my  then  past 
life,  he  would  undoubtedl}^  have  reported  it  to  my  preju- 
dice. Verily  the  Universalist  x^reacher  should  be  sanctified 
from  the  womb. 

Another  more  important  incident  in  the  relation  between 
me  and  Parson  Thurston  was  the  following :  —  I  was 
spending  an  evening  with  Br.  John  Morrill,  about  a  mile 
north-west  of  Winthrop  Village.  After  supper  he  re- 
marked to  me  that  Parson  Thurston  had  an  appointment 
for  a  lecture  that  evening  in  the  School  House  of  that  Dis- 
trict, and  proposed  that  we  should  go  in  and  hear  him.  I 
cheerfull}^  accepted  the  proposition.  Mr.  Thurston  extem- 
porized, and  floundered  about  in  the  vain  eflbrt  to  address 
to  the  understanding  the  idea  of  the  ability  of  totally 
depraved  mortals  to  perform  all  the  moral  requirements  of 
their  heavenly  Father,  and  thus  secure  by  obedience  the 
title  to  eternal  salvation  ;  while  at  the  same  time  all  self- 
reliance  in  relation  to  this  great  work  is  sin.  After  the 
benediction,  Br.  Morrill  introduced  me  to  Mr.  Thurston. 
He  seemed  embarrassed  by  my  presence,  and  apologized 
for  his  performance,  saying  that  he  came  prepared  with  a 
sermon ;  but,  on  account  of  the  smallness  of  the  number 
present,  and  not  knowing  that  I  was  there,  he  substituted 
an  extemporaneous  discourse  on  a  subject  with  which  he 
was  not  familiar,  and  on  which  of  course  he  could  not 
speak  with  ease.  I  assured  him  that  I  understood  how  to 
make  due  allowance  for  such  circumstances  ;  that  I  had  no 
disposition  to  criticise  his  manner ;  that  my  only  difBculty 
was  with  the  sentiment  of  his  discourse.  He  respectfully 
inquired  what  were  my  objections  to  that.  I  replied  that 
I  knew  not  that  I  should  have  any  objection  to  the  matter 


96  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

of  his  discourse  if  I  could  understand  it :  that  he  had  told 
us  that  God  had  provided  in  Christ  a  way  of  salvation  for 
all  men  ;  and  that  way,  the  only  way  of  salvation,  was 
faith  and  repentance,  which  is  altogether  the  gift  of  God, 
or  the  work  of  his  grace,  by  the  power  of  his  spirit :  3^et 
he  restricted  final  salvation  to  a  small  portion  of  our  race. 
But  if  the  way  of  salvation  is  provided  in  God's  purpose 
of  grace  in  Christ  for  all,  and  that  way  is  the  gift  of  faith 
and  repentance,  or  of  spiritual  regeneration,  through  the 
effectual  working  of  the  Divine  Spirit  of  grace,  I  could  not 
understand  how  he  could  resist  the  faith  of  universal  salva- 
tion. He  rejoined  that  he  would  like  to  converse  with  me 
on  that  subject,  and  on  religious  doctrines  in  general. 
And  he  invited  me  to  call  and  spend  a  day  with  him,  at  his 
house,  in  religious  conversation.  I  respectfully  accepted 
the  invitation ;  and  we  agreed  upon  the  daj^  It  was 
understood  that  I  should  have  a  friend  accompany  me,  call 
in  the  forenoon  early,  dine  with  him,  and  spend  the  da3^ 

At  the  set  time  I  was  knocking  at  the  parson's  outer 
door,  accompanied  by  a  Br.  Fairbanks,  a  most  worthy 
member  of  my  society,  whose  given  name  I  do  not  remem- 
ber. Parson  Thurston  received  us  cordially,  and  soon  we 
were  seated  in  the  Study,  and  engaged  in  theological  dis- 
cussion. 

The  first  topic  on  the  tapis  was  the  doctrine  of  innate 
total  depravity.  This  he  held  as  an  essential  doctrine  of 
Christian  theology ;  and  he  argued  for  it  with  much  inge- 
nuit3^  We  continued  the  discussion  of  this  topic  all  the 
forenoon.  As  I  perceived  that  dinner  was  being  laid  upon 
the  table,  I  said  to  the  Parson  that  we  had  well-nigh  ex- 
hausted the  arguments,  pro  and  con.,  upon  that  subject; 
and  I  desired  to  advance  to  the  discussion  of  other  impor- 
tant points  of  doctrine  in  the  afternoon  ;  and  I  would  state 


A.    D.    1821.  97 

an  illustrative  case  bearing  upon  this  point,  his  decision  of 
which  should  close  this  branch  of  the  discussion.  I  pro- 
ceeded as  follows  :  — 

Suppose  a  3^oung  man  is  passing  by  the  garden  of  a 
neighbor,  and  his  attention  is  attracted  b}"  the  apparently 
delicious  fruit  with  which  a  tree  in  that  garden  is  loaded, 
and  he  desires  to  pluck  and  eat  of  it.  But  he  is  checked 
by  the  law  in  his  mind,  which  has  been  imprinted  there  by 
education,  forbidding  theft  as  wrong.  Now  we  will  criti- 
cally inquire,  wherein  is  the  sin  if  the  young  man  yields  to 
his  desire,  and  partakes  of  the  fruit?  Is  there  any  sin  in 
the  fruit?  None.  Is  the  young  man's  taste  for  good  fruit 
sinful?  Surely  not.  Is  the  act  of  eating  fruit  sinful? 
All  will  answer,  no.  Where  then  is  the  sin,  if  sin  ensues? 
It  is  in  the  unlawful  manner  of  obtaining  the  fruit,  taking 
the  property  of  another  without  his  leave. 

But  before  the  youth  jdelds  to  the  temptation  to  partake 
of  this  fruit  uulawfullj^,  the  law  of  the  conscience  yet  hold- 
ing him  back,  suppose  he  turns  and  looks  upon  his  father's 
garden  upon  the  other  side  of  the  street,  and  sees  there  a 
tree  loaded  with  fruit  every  way  as  strongly  inviting,  to 
which  he  has  ffee  access  by  the  kind  permission  of  his 
father,  and  he  knows  that  it  will  be  gratifying  to  his  father 
for  him  to  enjoy  himself  in  feasting  upon  that  fruit.  So 
there  is  nothing  now  to  turn  the  scale,  and  determine  the 
youth  from  which  tree  to  gratify  his  strong  and  lawful 
appetite,  but  the  law  which  had  been  holding  him  back  from 
his  neighbor's  tree.  "  Now  to  which,"  I  questioned  my 
venerable  opponent,  "  to  which  tree  will  he  go  for  his 
repast  ?  " 

"  Why,"  he  replied,  "  as  you  have  stated  the  case,  he 
will  of  course  resort  to  his  father's  fruit  tree."  "  Then 
where,"  I  inquired,  *'  is  your  doctrine  of  innate  total  de- 
9 


98  HEF.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.l). 

pravity?  If  he  were  radically  depraved,  if  he  were  nat- 
urall}'  and  constitutionally  disposed  to  wrong,  and  in  love 
with  sin,  the  very  fact  that  it  is  wrong  to  steal  the  fruit 
from  his  neighbor's  garden  would  determine  him  to  that 
act." 

"  Wh}',"  rejoined  the  Parson,  "we  never  meant  to  be 
understood  as  believing  in  any  such  thing  as  p^ire  malevo- 
lence in  man  ;  a  choice  of  wrong  for  the  sake  of  the  wrong." 
"  Very  well,"  I  replied  ;  "  I  am  perfectly  satisfied  to  leave 
our  discussion  of  this  point,  as  I  promised,  with  your  deci- 
sion on  the  case  I  would  propose  for  trial.  You  do  not 
believe  in  total  innate  depravit}^,  or  the  natural  love  and 
preference  for  sin  as  sin.  Man  is  induced  by  temptation, 
against  his  better  nature,  to  violate  the  laws  of  God.  As 
St.  James  sa3's,  '  he  is  drawn  away  of  his  own  lust,  and 
enticed.'  Much  controversy  results  from  the  misuse  of 
terms.  Revise  your  theological  formula  on  this  point,  and 
conform  it  to  3- our  real  views  which  you  have  now  exposed, 
and  you  and  I  will  have  no  occasion  for  controversy  on  the 
subject  of  human  depravity." 

The  afternoon  was  devoted  to  miscellaneous  discussions. 
I  put  him  up  to  hard  efforts  to  harmonize*  his  Hopkinsian 
Calvinism  with  the  Scriptures  and  with  itself;  and  he 
gave  me  the  usual  running  catalogue  of  fragmentary  Scrip- 
ture quotations  to  explain  in  harmony  with  Universalism. 
Whatever  of  social  intercourse  subsequent  opportunities 
afforded  was  mutually  respectful  and  pleasant. 

MY   HOME   IN   WATERVILLE. 

About  the  middle  of  July  (1821),  I  took  with  me  my 
team  (horse  and  chaise),  my  little  librar}^,  and  my  change 
of  raiment,  which  constituted  the  whole  of  my  inheritance, 


A.  D.  1821.  yy 

and  planted  m3^self  in  Waterville  as  a  citizen  and  a  Pastor. 
I  engaged  to  preach  in  Waterville  one  half  of  the  time, 
two  thirds  of  the  half  in  the  East  Village,  which  is  situated 
at  the  head  of  boat  navigation  on  Kennebec  River,  and  one 
third  in  the  West  Meeting  House,  four  miles  back,  where 
there  is  a  little  business  centre,  sustained  by  grist  and  saw 
mills,  and  a  few  stores.  The  Meeting  Houses  were  both 
owned  by  the  town,  and  the  worse  for  wear.  That  in  the 
East  Village  was  kept  in  a  comfortable  condition  ;  but  that 
in  the  West  w^as  greatly  out  of  repair.  As  no  particular 
society  had  control  of  it,  my  friends  would  only  spend 
enough  upon  it  to  keep  out  the  storms. 

During  this  summer  and  autumn,  what  portion  of  the 
time  I  spent  in  Waterville,  I  received  gratuitous  board,  by 
kind  invitation,  in  the  families  of  Maj.  Richard  M.  Dorr, 
Maj.  Ebenezer  Balcomb,  and  others,  in  the  East  Village  ; 
and  of  Elisha  Hallett,  Esq.,  and  others,  in  the  West  part 
of  the  town. 

August.  —  On  the  first  Sunday,  after  the  usual  public 
services  in  Waterville,  I  rode  to  Sidney,  ten  miles,  and 
delivered  an  evening  lecture  in  the  Brick  School  House 
near  Capt.  Sawtell's.  The  Baptist  Elder,  Wilbur,  his  Dea- 
con, and  several  members  of  his  church,  attended.  After 
public  service  I  had  some  conversation  with  Elder  Wilbur, 
chiefly  on  the  relation  of  all  men  to  God  as  their  Creator, 
and  on  the  creature  or  creation  in  Rom.  viii.  ;  —  subjects 
which  I  had  touched  upon  in  my  discourse.  Anxious  to 
invalidate  the  force  of  this  testimony  in  proof  of  the  ulti- 
mate spiritual  regeneration  and  gloiy  of  all  of  human  kind, 
he  first  assumed  that  the  creation,  in  that  case,  means  all 
created  things,  animate  and  inanimate.  I  pressed  him  to 
say  w^hether  he  believed  the  inanimate  things  are  to  become 
capable  of  enjoying  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children 


100  EEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

• 

of  God,  and  tire  to  be  raised  into  that  dignity.  He  would 
not  be  so  foolish  as  to  say  this ;  and  then  he  varied  his 
position,  and  interpreted  the  "  creature  "  or  "  whole  crea- 
tion" of  this  chapter  to  mean  the  whole  animate  creation, 
human  and  brute.  But  he  found  it  equally  difficult,  on 
reflection,  to  stand  up  to  the  folly  of  assuming  that  all 
hrute  creatures  are  to  be  elevated  to  the  estate  of  sons 
of  God ;  and  he  felt  obliged  to  admit  the  view  which  I 
had  taken  of  the  passage  referred  to,  viz.,  that  the  sub- 
ject of  the  apostle  is  the  human  creation,  who  are  the  prop- 
er subjects  of  the  Christian  ministry,  v/hich  proclaims  this 
great  emancipation  as  the  purpose  of  God  in  Christ. 

On  the  second  Sunday  in  August  (1821),  I  preached  in 
LiGONiA,  wliich  is  about  twelve  miles  east  of  Waterville. 
The  name  of  the  town  has  since  been  changed  to  Albion. 
I  delivered  a  lecture  in  the  same  place  Saturday  evening. 
This  lecture  was  understood  to  be  the  first  Universalist 
sermon  preached  in  that  town.  I  shall  make  note  of  my 
ministerial  labors  more  extensively  than  would  otherwise 
be  appropriate,  for  the  reason  that  I  performed  much 
pioneer  service,  and  the  Journal  of  my  ministerial  labors 
will  furnish  much  material  for  a  history  of  Universalism 
and  the  Universalist  denomination  in  Maine. 

THE   OTHER  PREACHERS. 

During  a  few  of  the  early  years  of  my  ministry,  there 
was  no  other  laborious  itinerant  Universalist  preacher  in 
Maine.  Rev.  Tho.  Barnes,  commonly  called  "  Father 
Barnes,"  who  was  the  first  resident  regular  preacher  of  this 
faith  in  that  State,  had  passed  away.  He  commenced  his 
residence  in  Poland,  Me.,  in  1799  ;  and  received  ordina- 
tion  in  Gray,  Me.,  Jan.   Gth,   1802.     For  many  j^ears  he 


A.    I).    1821.  101 

preached  in  Norway,  Falmouth,  New  Gloucester  and  Free- 
port,  about  a  quarter  of  the  time  in  each  place.  His 
daughter  says  in  her  Memoir  of  him,  "  At  the  earnest 
solicitation  of  the  Eastern  brethren,  he  paid  several  visits 
to  Belgrade,  "NYaterville  and  Farmington,  but  never  jour- 
ne^^ed  any  farther  eastward."  He  died  Oct.  3d,  1816,  aged 
66  years. 

Rev.  Russell  Streeter  came  to  Portland  in  the  winter  of 
1821,  while  I  was  school  keeping  and  preaching  in  Norway  ; 
but  his  w^hole  time  was  occupied  there  as  settled  Pastor,  and 
he  only  went  into  the  country  occasionally,  on  a  flying  visit 
for  a  single  appointment,  by  special  arrangement.  Dr. 
Joseph  Butterfield,  who  came  from  the  Baptists  into  our 
denomination,  yet  lived  at  Fryeburg,  and  preached  a  little, 
but  was  of  no  account  in  effective  service.  Fayette  Mace, 
who  was  ordained  with  me  at  Winthrop,  did  nothing  in 
Maine,  nor  much  anywhere  else.  In  a  little  while  he 
became  lost  to  our  ministry,  and  buried  in  the  society 
of  Shakers.  Rev.  Wm.  A.  Drew,  so  well  known  as  a 
long  and  faithful  laborer  in  his  Master's  vineyard,  com- 
menced holding  and  conducting  meetings  in  Farmington 
in  1820  ;  but  he  had  charge  of  the  Farmington  Academy 
for  some  time,  which  confined  him  at  home.  And  when  he 
had  disencumbered  himself  of  that  charge,  his  health  was 
so  feeble  that  he  could  not  go  out  into  the  field  of  hard 
itinerant  labor.  This  work  in  the  State  devolved  mainly 
upon  me,  who,  with  humble  abilities,  possessed  great 
physical  endurance,  and  ardent  zeal. 

EXTENSION   OF  MY  FIELD   OF   LABOR. 

In  October  of  this  year  (1821),  I  made  a  preaching  tour 
east  of  the  Kennebec,  which  was  introductor}'   to   a  bi- 
9* 


102  MEV.    SYLVAN  US     COBB^    D.D. 

moiitlil}''  series  of  tours  in  this  region,  widening  in  their 
extent,  for  five  j^ears.  And  soon  these  tours  took  in  a 
line  of  lectures,  outward  bound,  down  the  valley  of  the 
Kennebec,  in  Augusta,  Ilallowell,  Gardiner,  Bowdoinham, 
Bath  (sometimes  in  Brunswick)  ;  and  in  Wiscasset  and 
Bristol  on  the  wa}^  from  the  River  towns  into  the  eastern 
field.  In  my  Journal  I  find  the  following  entry,  —  which 
is  a  moderate  specimen  of  the  general  run  of  my  Diary, 
exhibiting  the  persistence  and  continuity  of  my  labors 
during  all  the  years  of  my  ministry  in  Maine  :  — 

"OCTOBER,   1821. 

^^ First  Sunday.— 1  delivered  two  discourses  in  Livermore. 

"  This  week  I  visited  Br.  Wm.  A.  Drew  in  Farmington.  He 
has  charge  of  the  Academy  in  that  place,  and  preaches  there  on 
the  Sabbath  days. 

*'  Second  Sunday . — Preached  two  discourses  in  Readfield. 

"15th. — An  evening  discourse  in  Hallowell,  South  Reading 
Room. 

"  16th.— An  evening  lecture  in  Hallowell,  east  of  the  River. 

*'  17th.— Having  received  invitations  from  unknown  friends  in 
New  Castle,  Nobleborough,  and  Union,  to  visit  those  places  and 
expound  to  them  the  word  of  Christian  revelation,  I  now  started 
out  on  a  considerable  tour  east  of  the  Kennebec.  In  these,  as  in 
all  my  subsequent  and  extended  labors  in  this  direction,  I  was 
acting  the  pioneer  of  our  cause.  Father  Barnes,  as  his  daughter 
saj-s,  never  extended  his  missionary  tours  farther  east  than 
Waterville. 

''  Third  Sunday.— 1  preached  in  New  Castle  two  discourses; 
and  a  third  discourse  in  Nobleborough,  at  Damariscotta 
Bridge. 

"  22d.— A  lecture  in  Back  Meadow  neighborhood,  in  Noble- 
borough. 

"  23d.— A  lecture  in  Bristol.  The  venerable  Commodore 
Samuel  Tucker,  of  Revolutionary  memory,  whose  residence 
was  in  that  neighborhood,  was  an  earnest  and  tearful  listener  to 
the  discourse,  and  took  me  to  his  hospitable  abode,  where  he 


A.    D.    1821.  103 

insisted  on  my  abiding  over  the  succeeding  day  and  night,  and 
entertained  me  delightfully  with  spirited  and  life-like  rehearsals 
of  his  naval  exploits  in  our  Revolutionary  war  with  England." 

From  this  time  onward  the  several  j^ears  that  I  continued 
my  tours  in  this  region,  I  delivered  one  or  two  evening 
lectures  in  Bristol  on  nearly  every  tour.  And  Com. 
Tucker,  and  his  grandson,  Hines,  were  leading  spirits  in 
the  procurement  and  support  of  those  lectures. 

^'Fourth  Sunday. — Two  discourses  in  Union. 
"  30tli.— An  evening  discourse  in  Union,  in  a  School  House 
east  of  the  Common. " 

Here  ends  that  October ;  in  which  month  I  preached 
fourteen  sermons,  spread  over  a  wide  field,  nearly  all  of 
which  were  addressed  to  congregations  mostly  composed 
of  new  inquirers,  and  in  part  of  those  who  came  out  of 
curiosity  to  hear  "  strange  things."  And  intervening, 
between  the  discourses,  much  private  conversation  de- 
volved upon  me. 

But  that  tour  extended  a  few  days  into  November.  So 
my  Journal  reports  it. 

"  November  2d. — A  lecture  in  Sweetland's  (Baptist)  Meeting- 
House  in  Hope.  First  Sunday  (that  is,  in  November),  preached 
in  Union." 

"  Though  in  this  quarter  they  had  heard  false  and  evil  reports 
of  the  doctrine  of  God's  universal  and  efficient  goodness  and 
grace,  and  had  heard  but  little  of  the  truth  of  it,  yet  great  num- 
bers flocked  together  to  hear  the  word,  and  many  were  so  happy 
as  to  receive  it  into  believing  hearts." 

The  Diary  adds,  —  "The  remainder  of  this  month  I 
preached  in  Waterville.'* 

My  friends  in  Waterville  sympathized  with  me  in  my 
missionary  work  ;  so  that  they  cheerfully  consented  that  I 
should  so  divide  the  time  between  them  and  the  various 


104  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

portions  of  my  missionary  field,  as  should  best  accommo- 
date my  work  in  its  wbolencss.  They  would  have  their 
half  of  the  Sundays,  of  course ;  but  not  always  in  regular 
order.  The  variations,  however,  were  exceptional.  Usu- 
ally I  preached  the  first  and  second  Sunda^^s  in  each  month 
abroad,  and  the  third  and  fourth  at  home.  This  method 
was  generally  more  convenient  than  would  have  been  the 
preaching  at  home  and  abroad  on  alternate  Sabbaths.  For 
often  I  had  two  Sabbath  engagements  near  together,  yet 
both  far  from  home,  where  they  could  be  embraced  in  one 
tour  to  the  saving  of  much  travel,  and  an  opportunity  be 
aflbrded  for  lecturing  on  the  intervening  week  evenings,  in 
the  region  round  about.  For  instance,  during  about  five 
3'ears,  from  1821  to  182G,  I  generally  preached  in  Union 
the  first  Sunday,  and  in  Hope  the  second  Sundaj^,  of  every 
other  month.  And  on  the  week  evenings  between  these 
Sundaj^s  I  lectured  more  or  less  in  East  Thomaston,  Cam- 
den, Lincolnville,  Belfast,  Castine,  and  other  places.  On 
my  way  to  Union  I  would  lecture,  on  each  trip,  in  some 
of  the  towns  of  Augusta,  Hallo  well,  Gardiner,  Bowcloin- 
ham,  Brunswick,  Bath,  Wiscasset,  and  Bristol.  And  on 
m}'  wa}^  home,  by  a  more  direct  country  route  from  Hope, 
after  the  second  Sunday,  in  Belmont,  Searsmont,  Mont- 
ville.  Unity  and  Ligonia  or  Albion. 

INFANT   DEDICATION. 

On  the  second  Sunday  of  December  following  (1821), 
I  performed  for  the  first  time  the  service  of  infant  Dedica- 
tion, substituted  by  Rev.  John  Murray  for  infant  Sprink- 
ling. It  was  in  my  meeting  in  Waterville  ;  and  the  subject 
of  it  was  an  infant  son  of  Br.  Levi  Dow,  an  active  member 
of  my   society,  who   a  few  j^ears   before   removed  from 


A.    D.    1822.  105 

Boston,  where  he  was  a  member  of  Father  Ballou's  Church, 
in  School  Street.  He  instructed  me  into  the  form  of  words 
as  nearly  as  he  could  recollect  it,  employed  by  Father 
Murray,  and  adopted  by  Father  Ballon,  which  is  the  fol-« 
lowing :  I  receive  thee  as  a  member  of  the  m3^stical 
church  of  Christ,  to  be  baptized  with  his  own  baptism,  in 
the  name  of  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
and  I  dedicate  thee  to  Him  to  whom  thou  belongest,  pro- 
nouncing upon  thee  the  blessing  which  God  commanded  to 
be  pronounced  upon  all  the  children  of  Israel.  "  The  Lord 
bless  thee  and  keep  thee  ;  the  Lord  make  his  face  to  shine 
upon  thee  and  be  gracious  unto  thee  ;  the  Lord  lift  up  his 
countenance  upon  thee,  and  give  thee  peace."     Amen. 

The  name  which  Brother  Dow  spoke  into  my  ear  for  his 
little  son,  when  he  passed  him  into  my  arms,  was,  George 
Sylvanus  Cobb.     An  unexpected  compliment  to  myself. 

A.   D.    1822. 

January.  —  Having  renewed  m}^  engagement  for  preach- 
ing half  of  the  time  in  Waterville,  I  took  regular  boarding 
with  widow  Elizabeth  McFarland,  an  excellent  Christian 
woman,  living  about  half  way  between  the  main  Village  on 
the  Kennebec  and  the  West  Meeting  House,  in  which  I 
preached  one  third  of  the  Sabbaths  devoted  to  Waterville. 
The  arrangement  furnished  me  with  a  pleasant  home,  which 
I  retained  until  I  entered  into  the  estate  of  matrimony  in 
the  ensuing  autumn. 

February.  —  On  the  first  day  of  this  month  I  started  on 
a  tour  south  and  westward,  which  was  extended  to  Boston, 
comprising  my  first  visit  to  that  city,  which,  in  six  3'ears 
afterwards,  was  embraced  in  the  neighborhood  of  my  re  si- 


106  JREV.    SYLVAXUS     COJUl,    U.D. 

dence,  and  in  about  nineteen  years,  became  my  permanent 
life  abode. 

I  went  by  way  of  Hallowell,  and  took  aboard  sleigh,  as 
my  companion  on  the  route,  3Iiss  Eunice  Hale  Wait,  who 
was  my  affianced  Bride. 

1st— Went  to  Hallowell. 

2d.— (Saturday)  Took  my  travelling-companion  aboard, 
and  rode  out  (ten  miles)  to  Winthrop,  where  I  preached 
the  next  day,  which  was  Sunday. 

Ath. — (Monday)  We  rode  to  Norway,  where  we  remained 
until  the  11th.  While  there  I  preached  a  lecture  in  Yag- 
ger  ;  and  a  lecture  also  in  the  Village,  and  two  discourses 
on  Sunday  the  10th. 

11th, — Went  to  Falmouth. 

12th. — Delivered  a  lecture  to  Br.  Russell  Streeter's  con- 
gregation in  Portland. 

13th. — We  proceeded  on  our  journey  as  far  as  Dover,  N. 
H.,  where  we  found  a  pleasant  home  for  the  night  at  Br. 
N.  Ela's  Hotel,  which  was  alwa3'S  a  welcome  home  to  me 
when  I  was  passing  through  Dover,  and  had  occasion  to 
make  any  tarry  there. 

14,th. — To  Portsmouth,  where  we  spent  the  night  with 
the  family  of  father  Sebastian  Streeter,  wherein  I  spent  so 
many  happy  days  in  preparatory  study  for  the  ministry, 
in  1820. 

16th. — To  Ipswich.  Here  dwell  the  principal  relations 
of  Miss  Wait,  my  companion.  Her  birth-place  is  Kenne- 
bunk,  Me.  But  her  father  died  when  she  was  about  five 
years  of  age,  and  her  grandfather,  Capt.  Isaac  Stanwood, 
of  Ipswich,  her  mother's  father,  took  the  principal  parental 
and  educational  charge  of  her  until  she  was  twelve  j^ears 
of  age,  when  her  mother  married  Samuel  Locke,  Esq.,  of 
Hallowell,  Me.,  and  gathered  her  children  to  herself.     So 


A.    D.    1822.  107 

here,  at  Ipswich,  I  left  Miss  Wait,  while  I  finished  out  my 
journey  in  its  principal  purpose,  by  extending  it  to  Boston. 

l&th^  (Saturday),  I  left  Ipswich  with  the  intention  of 
going  directly  to  Boston,  and  spending  the  Sabbath  in  that 
city,  hearing  Rev.  Hosea  Ballon  one  part  of  the  day,  and 
Eev.  Paul  Dean  the  other  part.  But,  in  passing  through 
Salem,  I  must  needs  make  a  short  friendly  call  on  Rev.  Bar- 
zillia  Streeter,  then  Pastor  of  the  Universalist  Church  in 
that  city,  with  whom  I  contracted  an  intimate  acquaintance 
in  Maine  in  1819,  when  he  preached  equal  portions  of  the 
time  in  Norway,  Turner,  Livermore,  New  Gloucester,  and 
Waterville.  Br.  Streeter  prevailed  upon  me  to  permit 
him  to  put  up  my  horse,  to  tarry  with  him  Saturday  night, 
and  preach  for  him  Sunday.  After  the  afternoon  service, 
he  accompanied  me,  as  companion  and  guide,  to  Charles- 
town,  and  introduced  me  to  Rev.  Edward  Turner,  who 
cordially  invited  us  to  abide  with  him  over  Sunday  night. 
At  that  time  Mr.  Turner  was  Pastor  of  the  Universalist 
Society  in  Charlestown.  This  was  my  first  acquaintance 
with  him.  I  found  him  a  pleasant  combination  of  dignity 
and  geniality. 

But  my  enjoyment  of  this  evening's  entertainment  was 
somewhat  abridged,  by  the  matter  and  spirit  of  the  princi- 
pal conversation  between  Brs.  Turner  and  Streeter.  They 
were  continuously  discussing,  as  parties  interested  in  the 
movement,  the  project  which  I  found  to  my  regret  to  be 
afoot,  for  a  division  of  the  denomination  on  the  question 
of  a  limited  future  or  post  mortem  punishment.  The 
believers  in  such  punishment  were  to  go  out  and  organize 
a  distinct  denomination,  under  the  name  of  Universal  Re- 
storationists,  or  something  similar.  And  these  two  brethren 
were  very  innocently  ci^lculating  that  the  most  polished 


108  ItEF.    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

and  literary  of  the  denomination  would  go  with  them  into 
the  new  organization. 

We  in  the  State  of  Maine  had  been  baptized  into  the 
Spirit  of  God  as  the  universal  Father,  and  of  Christ  as  the 
universal  Saviour,  and  of  humanity  as  a  universal  brother- 
hood. We  regarded  sin  as  the  shame  and  curse  of  man, 
wherever  it  is  ;  and  labored  to  show  our  people  this  fact ; 
that  they  might  hate  and  discard  sin,  not  only  as  dishonor- 
ing the  God  they  loved,  but  also  as  degrading  and  cursing 
their  own  being.  But  we  felt  neither  authorized  nor  dis- 
posed to  extend  sin's  reign  into  the  "  life  and  immortality  " 
"  brought  to  light  through  the  gospel."  And  to  whatever 
of  private  speculations  individuals  might  sometimes  in- 
dulge their  genius  upon  in  relation  to  temporary  evil  in 
the  land  of  promise,  we  gave  no  importance  by  giving  it 
marked  consideration.  Indeed  the  moral  power  of  our 
ministry  was  the  love  of  God  in  CJirist  Jesus  our  Lord. 

Feb.  18th,  {Monday).  Br.  Streeter,  still  remaining 
with  me  as  my  companion  and  guide,  introduced  me,  in 
his  own  house,  to  Rev.  Paul  Dean,  Pastor  of  the  Bulfinch 
St.  Church  in  Boston.  This  was  to  me  another  new 
acquaintance.  I  found  Mr.  Dean  a  man  of  much  social 
affability.  But  his  mind  also,  as  well  as  Mr.  Turner's,  had 
been  measurably  alienated,  and  his  denominational  feel- 
ings unfavorably  affected,  by  unwholesome  influences. 
The  conversation  here  was  similar  to  that  at  Mr.  Turner's. 

19?7i,  {Tuesday).  We  called  at  a  modest  mansion  on 
Hancock,  near  Myrtle  Street,  where  we  found  Rev.  Ilosea 
Ballou  at  home.  After  the  usual  introduction,  the  venera- 
ble minister  of  the  word  placed  me  a  chair  by  himself  a 
little  apart,  and,  with  a  fatherly  interest,  inquired  into  my 
labors,  and  encouragements,  and  the  condition  and  pros- 
pects of  the  common  cause,  in  the  State  of  Maine.     He  had 


A.    D.    1822.  109 

been  represented  to  me  as  more  severe  in  his  theological 
tone,  and  less  polished  in  his  manners,  than  the  other 
Reverend  Brethren  whose  acquaintance  I  had  just  made. 
But  I  found  his  soul  mellow  with  the  love  of  Christ,  and 
his  conversation  to  develop  the  tenderness  and  simplicity 
of  a  child.  He  regarded  the  faith  of  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  the  gospel  as  an  essential  requisite  to  denomina- 
tional ministerial  fellowship  ;  but  on  incidental  matters  of 
philosophizing  he  could  tolerate  individual  freedom,  and 
even  smile  at  what  he  regarded  as  ludicrous  blunders. 

Waiting  in  vain,  through  that  afternoon  and  evening,  for 
Mr.  Ballon  to  arraign  certain  other  Brethren's  diflference 
of  opinion  on  some  of  those  incidentals,  —  or  at  least  to 
introduce  the  subject  of  the  disputations,  disaffections,  and 
threatened  divisions  of  which  others  had  said  so  much,  I 
at  length  questioned  him  in  relation  to  these  things, 
directly.  Said  I,  inquiringly,  "  I  believe  there  is  some 
difficulty  between  you  and  Br.  Dean?"  "  None  at  all,"  he 
replied  in  a  decisive  but  mellow  tone ;  "if  there  is  any 
difficulty,  it  is  all  on  his  side.  1  have  never  interfered 
with  his  affairs,  nor  regarded  him  with  other  than  feelings 
of  kindness.  I  understand  that  Br.  Dean  believes  in  a 
limited  punishment  in  the  immortal  world.  He  has  a  per- 
fect right  to  believe  and  preach  it,  if  he  has  evidence  of  it 
satisfactory  to  himself.  But  when  he  requires  of  me  the 
belief  of  it  as  essential  to  my  claim  of  Chiistian  fellowship, 
it  is  highly  proper  that  I  should  demand  the  proof  of  it  as 
a  Christian  doctrine.  That  is  all.  I  see  no  occasion  for 
any  unkindness  of  spirit  or  alienation  of  feeling  between 
us."  So  he  spoke  with  apparent  depth  and  sincerity  of 
feeling ;  and  the  spirit  of  these  remarks  was  uniformly 
manifested  by  that  great  and  good  man  through  the  many 
10 


]10  7?;; J'.  sYLrAxus   codb,  d.d. 

years  of  1113'  subsequent  intimate  social  intercourse  witli 
him. 

20^/i,  {February).  I  took  leave  of  Father  Ballou  after 
breakfast,  and  returned  to  Ipswich,  leaving  Br.  Barzillia 
Streeter  at  his  home  in  Salem  on  the  way.  Here  I  met 
again  with  my  chosen  friend,  Miss  Wait,  and  tarried  over 
night  with  her  worthy  uncle,  Joseph  Wait. 

21st.— The  weather  was  rainy,  and  the  snow  fast  melting 
away,  so  that  it  was  necessary  that  I  should  be  hastening 
on  m}^  return  route,  that  my  sleigh  might  serve  as  my 
vehicle  of  conveyance.  In  passing  through  Salisbury  I 
recalled  an  appointment  made  on  my  way  out,  for  a  lecture 
there  this  evening,  and  proceeded  on  to  Portsmouth.  Un- 
pleasant as  the  weather  was,  I  took  the  young  lady  whom 
I  had  in  charge  along  with  me,  that  I  might  deliver  her  to 
her  parents  in  safet}^  on  my  return  to  Hallowell.  With  a 
large  Buffalo  Robe,  and  a  good  umbrella,  I  kept  her  housed 
from  the  rain. 

23cZ,  (Sunday).  I  preached  three  times  in  Br.  Sebastian 
Streeter's  desk  to-day,  he  being  at  Salisbury.  I  delivered 
a  lecture  for  him  also  Saturday  evening.  His  arrange- 
ments, as  usual  in  like  cases,  kept  me  pretty  constantly  at 
work. 

25t7i,  (Monday).  This  evening  I  lectured  in  the  Court 
House  in  Dover.  The  ground  was  bare  much  of  the  way 
from  Portsmouth  to  Dover,  and  we  had  to  face  a  cold  north 
wind  which  blew  furiously.  But  we  persevered,  and  laughed 
at  our  hardships. 

Notwithstanding  my  solicitude  to  be  making  progress 
homeward,  both  on  account  of  the  protracted  term  of  my 
absence,  and  the  rapid  wasting  away  of  snow  for  sleighing, 
yet,  as  I  have  it  in  my  Diary,  "  the  solicitations  of  the 
brethren  prevailed  upon  me  to  stop  and  speak  to  them 


A.    D.    1822.  Ill 

again  the  next  evening."  I  do  not  recollect  the  circum- 
stances which  rendered  the  brethren  so  desirousHo  receive, 
and  which  prevailed  with  me  to  tarry  and  give,  another  lec- 
ture. So  far  as  I  may  judge  from  the  subject  of  my  second 
discourse,  by  reference  to  my  text  book,  denoting  Eph.  i.  13, 
14,  as  the  text  for  the  occasion,  it  was  not  the  demand  for 
an  exposition  of  any  particular  passage  of  Scripture  which 
the  opposition  had  just  been  perverting  in  contradiction  of 
our  faith,  which  persuaded  me  to  tarry,  but  an  earnest  and 
lively  spirit  of  inquiry  after  truth  in  the  love  and  joy  of 
truth  and  righteousness. 

In  four  days  more  of  rough  sleighing  I  reached  my  home 
at  Waterville.  The  first  day  brought  us  to  Portland  ;  the 
second  to  Lisbon  ;  the  third  to  HalloweH,  where  I  left  my 
pleasant  ward  with  her  parents  ;  and  the  fourth  to  Water- 
ville. 

I  have  introduced  into  this  biographical  sketch,  notes  of 
conversations,  with  me  and  in  my  presence,  on  the  part  of 
the  prominent  clerical  brethren  whom  I  visited  in  Boston 
and  vicinity,  because  it  is  expedient  that  I  should  thus 
record  my  witness  from  behind  the  curtain,  as  to  who  were 
the  prime  operators  in  an  historical  movement  in  our  de- 
nomination, which,  in  1831,  culminated  in  the  secession  of 
a  party  (iiot  embraciug  Hosea  Ballou),  which  organized 
itself  under  the  name  of  "  TJie  Massachusetts  Association 
of  Universal  Hestorationists,''  which  operated  in  a  narrow 
sphere  a  little  while,  and  in  a  few  years  was  only  to  be 
found  on  record  among  the  things  that  were. 

I  have  also  encumbered  this  memorandum  of  my  first 
visit  to  Boston,  with  notes  of  my  labors  by  the  way,  on 
the  Sabbaths  and  numbers  of  week  evenings,  to  show  to 
my  posterity,  for^whom  I  write  these  sketches,  that  my  life 
was  not  that  of  a  sinecure,  but  of  a  laborer ;   that  the 


112  HEF.    SYLVAXUS    COBB,    D.D. 

P^atbor  conferred  upon  me  the  working  man's  mission. 
And  in  pursuing  the  Journal  of  my  life,  3'ou  will  see  that 
my  labors  and  responsibilities  multiplied  and  increased, 
until,  in  advanced  age,  my  ph3'sical  powers  declined. 

During  this  3- ear  (1822),  I  continued  my  circuit  labors 
in  the  wide  field  before  described  in  this  Journal,  widening 
it  somewhat,  by  progressive  degrees  ;  —  down  the  valley 
of  the  Kennebec,  taking  in  Winthrop  and  some  other  towns 
west,  and  extending  east  over  Lincoln,  Knox,  Hancock, 
Waldo  and  Penobscot  counties  ;  retaining  Waterville  as 
the  base  of  operations,  and  the  field  of  half  of  my  Sunday 
services.  There  are  some  incidents,  however,  of  peculiar 
interest,  to  which  I  am  inclined  to  give  a  passing  notice. 

In  April,  having  preached  a  lecture  in  Winthrop ;  and 
a  discourse  on  Fast  Da3'  in  the  Baptist  Meeting  House  in 
Hallowell ;  and  a  Sunday  in  Union ;  and  a  lecture  in 
Appleton  ;  and  another  Sunday  in  Union  ;  and  a  lecture  in 
Searsmont ;  I  preached  a  Sunday  in  Ligonia  (so  the  Diary 
has  it,  and  this  was  nearing  my  home  again),  and  here,  in 
the  evening,  /  solemnized  marriage  between  Mr.  George 
Smith  and  Miss  Celia  White,  both  of  Readfield.  This  I 
note  here  for  its  being  the  first  instance  of  my  having  been 
called  upon  to  perform  the  service  of  marriage  solemniza- 
tion. 

May. — Among  my  labors  in  this  month  I  find  the  follow- 
ing entr3' :  — 

*' May  lUh.  —  Preached  in  a  School  House  near  Capt.  Seth 
Wyman's,  in  Bloomfield.  The  CongregationaHsts,  at  a  lecture 
in  this  house  the  Sabbath  i^receding,  voted  to  keep  the  door 
locked  against  me.  But  they  did  not  see  fit  to  put  their  vote  into 
execution.  On  the  succeeding  evening  I  lectured  in  another 
School  House  in  the  same  town,  near  a  Mr.  Bjgelow's." 

This   brief   memorandum  recalls   to   my   mind   all  the 


A.    n.    1822.  113 

interesting  circumstances  of  that  occasion.  Capt.  Wyman 
was  a  liighl}^  intellectual  and  enterprising  man,  about  forty 
years  of  age,  with  a  young  family.  He  had  been  educated 
into  Calvinism,  which  was  the  dominant,  indeed  almost  the 
only  theology  in  Bloomfield.  He  had  never  heard  Univer- 
salism  preached,  nor  had  he  heard  or  read  of  it  but  as  a 
dangerous  error,  defiant  of  the  teachings  of  the  Bible. 
Early  in  this  month  he  was  executing  an  engagement  in 
Waterville  Village  in  his  capacity  as  a  Stone  Mason,  to  finish 
a  small  fraction  of  which  he  tarried  in  the  place  over  a 
Sabbath.  On  Sunday  morning  he  suddenly  willed  to  hear 
me  preach  in  the  forenoon.  He  took  his  seat  in  a  wall 
pew  alone,  and  my  attention  was  particularly  arrested  by 
his  remarkable  appearance.  He  sat,  during  the  sermon, 
with  his  hands  grasping  his  knees,  his  strongly  intellectual 
countenance  elevated,  his  eyes  fixed  upon  me,  and,  in  the 
absorption  of  his  mind  with  the  subject,  often  rising  par- 
tially from  his  seat.  In  the  afternoon  he  appeared  in  the 
same  pew,  and  went  through  with  the  same  attitudes. 
None  of  my  friends  knew  him  of  whom  I  inquired  coming 
out  of  meeting.  But  on  Monday,  before  he  left  town  for 
home,  he  called  at  my  study;  introduced  himself;  ex- 
plained the  manner  of  his  religious  education  ;  his  entire 
misconception  of  Universalism ;  how  he  happened  to  be 
tarrying  in  Waterville  over  Sunday  ;  his  sudden  determina- 
tion to  go  in  and  hear  my  morning's  discourse  ;  his  delight- 
ful surprise  ;  his  wonder  and  admiration  of  the  beauty  and 
glory  of  the  doctrine,  and  its  harmony  with  the  Scriptures 
as  well  as  with  reason.  He  felt  irresistibly  impelled  by 
his  spiritual  wants  to  go  in  and  hear  me  again  in  the  after- 
noon, by  which  means  he  had  become  more  deeply  inter- 
ested in  the  faith  that  I  promulgated  ;  and  he  must  pursue 
his  inquiries.  He  earnestly  desired  that  his  family  also, 
13* 


114  liEF.    SYLVANUS     CODD^    D.D. 

and  his  neighbors,  should  enjoy  the  privilege  of  hearing 
the  same  gospel.  To  this  end  he  engaged  me  to  lecture  in 
his  District  School  House  on  the  evening  above  noted.  On 
the  intervening  Sunday  he  attended  the  Congregational 
lecture  at  the  same  School  House,  at  the  close  of  which  he 
gave  public  notice  of  my  lecture  to  be  delivered  there  on 
the  evening  of  the  14th.  Objection  being  made  to  the 
opening  of  the  School  House,  Capt.  "Wyman  enthusias- 
tically expatiated  on  the  great  light  which  he  had  received 
from  hearing  the  preacher  whom  he  had  announced,  and 
declared  his  desire  to  afford  them  all  an  opportunity  to 
receive  the  same  benefit.  And  he  advised  that  their  min- 
isters should  attend  the  lecture,  and,  if  Mr.  Cobb  was  in 
error,  expose  him  and  put  him  down.  A  vote  was  carried, 
as  above  stated,  to  close  the  house ;  but  Capt.  Wyman 
told  them  that  he  had  as  good  a  right  as  any  of  them  to 
the  use  of  the  School  House  for  a  religious  meeting ;  but 
if  they  barred  him  out,  he  would  open  his  own  house. 
They  were  not  able  to  shut  the  light  out  of  town. 

And  so  the  lecture  came  off;  and  it  was  fully  attended. 
None  of  the  clergy,  however,  saw  fit  to  be  present. 

Numbers  received  the  word.  The  arrangement  was 
extemporized  after  the  sermon,  and  before  the  dismissal, 
and  notice  announced,  for  the  lecture  in  the  Bigelow  School 
House  the  next  evening. 

A  few  lectures  followed  in  Bloomfield,  and  they  drew 
attendants  from  Skowhegan,  a  flourishing  village,  which 
was  near,  who  arranged  for  my  lecturing  frequently  in  that 
place ;  which,  from  its  convenience  of  location,  and  the 
number  of  men  of  influence  and  means  there  who  came  in 
with  us,  was  soon  made  the  place  of  meetings,  as  the  com- 
mon centre,  for  the  fraternity  of  Universalists  of  that 
vicinity,  including  those  in  Bloomfield,  and  other  parts  of 


A.    D.    1822.  115 

Canaan,  of  which  Skowhegan  was  then  a  portion.  A  reg- 
ular society  was  soon  organized,  which  has  lived  and 
prospered  to  the  day  of  this  writing,  1866,  which  is  44  years 
from  the  lecturing  in  Bloomfield  of  which  I  have  just  been 
speaking,  which  was  the  initiative  of  all  this  work  of  evan- 
gelization, and  society  and  church  construction,  which  will 
live  and  operate  forever.  That  at  Skowhegan  is  one  of  the 
Maine  societies  which  are  regularly  represented  by  able  and 
earnest  men  in  the  annual  Universalist  Convention  of  the 
State. 

June  26th  and  27th.— The  Eastern  Association  held  its 
annual  session  in  Turner.  The  clergymen  present,  besides 
myself,  were,  Sebastian  Streeter,  Russell  Streeter,  Wm. 
A.  Drew,  Wm.  Frost,  Jabez  Woodman,  Asa  Barton,  and 
Joseph  Butterfield.  I  was  persuaded  to  preach  in  the  fore- 
noon of  the  first  day.  I  was  sincerely  reluctant  to  do  so. 
It  was  near  the  place  of  my  nativity  ;  I  was  comparatively 
inexperienced  in  the  ministr}^ ;  had  been^preaching  more  or 
less  in  all  the  societies  round  about  which  were  represented 
in  that  Association  ;  and  I  believed  that  they  ought  to  do 
the  preaching  on  such  an  occasion,  who  were  differently 
circumstanced  in  these  respects.  But  the  Council  refused 
to  receive  my  excuses,  and  I  consented  to  preach.  My 
text  was  Eph.  i.  13,  14 :  "In  whom  ye  also  trusted,  after 
that  ye  heard  the  word  of  truth,  the  gospel  of  your  salva- 
tion :  in  whom  also,  after  that  ye  believed,  ye  were  sealed 
with  that  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,  which  is  the  earnest  of 
our  inheritance  until  the  redemption  of  the  purchased  pos- 
session, unto  the  praise  of  his  glory."  The  exposition  of 
the  several  parts  of  this  text  furnished  quite  a  full  system 
of  religious  doctrine.  1st.  There  was  a  "  word  of  truth," 
called  also  the  gospel  of  salvation,  the  hearing  of  which  pre- 
ceded the  act  of  believing  and   trustin":  in   Christ.     Of 


116  FiEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

coarse  this  word  of  truth  was  not  the  fruit  of  faith,  for  it 
preceded  faith,  and  was  the  root  and  ground  of  it.  It 
stands  not  in  the  will  of  man,  but  in  the  faithfulness  and 
power  of  God.  2d.  After  believing  in  Christ,  they  were 
sealed,  that  is,  confirmed  and  assured,  by  the  holy  Spirit 
of  promise.  3d.  This  assurance  was  the  earnest  of  their 
inheritance.  Earnest  is  a  part  of  the  purchase  money  in  a 
bargain  paid  in  advance,  as  a  pledge  of  the  whole.  So  the 
believer  in  Christ  enjo3^s,  in  his  assurance,  a  foretaste  of 
the  immortal  inheritance.  —  4':h.  "Until  the  redemption 
of  the  purchased  possession."  So  then,  in  connection  with 
their  own  realization  of  their  promised  inheritance,  they 
looked  for  the  redemption  of  the  purchased  possession ; 
even  the  purchased  possession  of  Him  who  is  "the  head  of 
every  man,"  and  "  who  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  all,  to  be 
testified  in  due  time."  That  sublimely  glorious  consumma- 
tion, the  deliverance  of  the  human  creation  from  the  bond- 
age of  corruption  unto  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children 
of  God  (Rom.  viii.  21),  will  indeed  redound  to  the  praise 
of  the  glory  of  God. 

Br.  Russell  Streeter  preached  in  the  afternoon  of  this 
day  ;  and  Br.  Wm.  Frost  in  the  evening. 

On  the  second  day  of  the  meeting  Br.  Wm.  A.  Drew 
preached  in  the  forenoon ;  and  Br.  Sebastian  Streeter  in 
the  afternoon.  After  the  sermon  ordination  was  conferred 
upon  Br.  Asa  Barton;  Brs.  Butterfield,  Frost,  and  S. 
Streeter,  performing  the  usual  parts  of  the  service. 

July  and  August  were  devoted  to  my  usual  broad 
round  of  ministerial  labors,  adding  Camden,  which  is  six 
miles  from  Hope,  to  my  Eastern  circuit.  Several  of  the 
citizens  of  Camden,  including  Dr.  Hues,  and  several  of  the 
Dillinghams,  had  been  attending  my  meetings  in  Hope. 
By  their  invitation  I  preached  an  evening  lecture  in  their 


A.    D.    1822.  117 

Village  June  1th.  And  on  the  second  Sunday  in  August  I 
preached  there  two  discourses  ;  and  in  the  evening,  lectured 
at  Ducktrap,  in  Lincolnville,  which  was  still  another  new 
jjost  of  labor.  I  continued  for  3^ears  to  share  to  these 
places,  Camden  and  Lincolnville,  a  small  portion  of  my 
labors,  sometimes  on  the  Sabbath,  and  at  other  times  on 
week  evenings. 

By  a  review  of  my  Diary,  I  perceive  that  two  other 
important  and  noteworthy  additions  were  made  to  my  field 
of  labor  in  these  two  months,  by  the  introduction  of  the 
New  Testament  Evangelism  into  Gardiner^  on  the  Ken- 
nebec, July  5th,  and  into  Belfast,  on  Penobscot  Bay,  Aug. 
16th.  These  pioneer  visits  to  those  thrifty  villages,  col- 
lected and  put  into  action  moral  forces,  which  have  pro- 
vided for  the  continuance  of  the  preached  word,  erected  in 
each  place  a  Meeting  House,  and  established  permanent 
religious  worship.  The  Universalist  societies  in  Gardiner 
and  Belfast,  are  living  and  working  institutions. 

Septemher  1822.  — Another  step's  advance  as  a  pioneer. 
On  the  4th  inst.,  I  delivered  a  lecture  in  Norridgewock,  in 
the  Court  House.  Norridgewock  is  the  Shire  Town  of 
Somerset  county.  I  was  invited  to  preach  in  the  place  by 
Esq.  Gould,  who  held  a  county  office,  the  Registry  of  Deeds 
I  believe.  I  was  entertained  by  a  famil}^  by  the  name  of 
Townsend. 

THE   NEW   EPOCH. 

September  lOth^ — at  8  o'clock  a.  m.,  I  joined  hands  in 
Marriage  with  Miss  Eunice  Hale  Wait,  at  the  house  of 
her  father-in-law,  Samuel  Locke,  Esq.,  in  Ilallowell.  Rev. 
Eliphalet  Jillett,  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church, 
officiated  on  the  occasion.  This  important  relation  was 
entered  into  with  a  good  understanding  of  its  sacredness, 


118  ItEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

interests  and  responsibilities,  by  both  parties  ;  and  she  has 
added  largely  to  the  value  of  my  life.  I  have  shared  her 
sj^mpathy  and  encouragement  in  m^''  arduous  and  responsi- 
ble labors ;  and  she  has  cheered  me  with  her  presence  in 
much  of  my  journeying  abroad.  Though,  with  the  in- 
crease of  the  number  of  our  children  (See  p.  18),  her  ck)- 
mestic  cares  and  responsibilities  increased,  all  of  which 
she  enjoj-ed  and  faithfullj'  acquitted,  for  she  never  failed  to 
look  well  to  the  wa3's  of  her  household,  yet  she  managed 
her  affairs  with  such  system  and  skill,  that,  with  great 
frequency,  she  could,  with  home  all  right,  gratify  her  own 
and  my  desires,  b}^  taking  a  seat  in  my  carriage,  and 
accompanying  me  when  I  went  out  to  spend  the  Sabbath 
from  home,  and  in  attendance  upon  our  Associational  and 
Conventional  meetings.  Of  such  a  one  there  can  be  no 
doubt  of  Solomon's  accurac}^  in  the  saying,  "  Whoso  find- 
eth  a  wife  findeth  a  good  thing,  and  obtaineth  favor  of  the 
Lord." 

After  the  ceremonj^  of  Solemnization  was  duly  executed, 
and  we  had  become  in  law  what  we  had  become  in  affection 
and  purpose,  husband  and  wife,  we  forthwith  started  out 
on  our  journey  for  Warner,  N.  II.,  to  attend  "  the  General 
Convention  of  Universalists  for  the  New  England  States 
and  others."  The  first  day's  leisurely  ride  bore  us  to  Lis- 
bon, where  we  were  entertained  over  night,  by  Dr.  Mace. 
The  second  day,  Wednesda}^,  brought  us  to  Portland,  where 
Br.  Russell  Streeter  persuaded  me  to  tarry  and  preach  a 
lecture  for  him  the  next  (Thursday)  evening.  The  loth 
advanced  us  to  Dover,  where  of  course  our  welcome  home 
was  at  Father  Ela's  Hotel.  Saturday  we  rode  to  Roches- 
ter, N.  H.,  where  I  preached  three  discourses  on  the  Sab- 
bath.    Remaining  in  Rochester  over  Monday,  Tuesday  the 


A.    D.    1822.  119 

ITth,  we  rode  to  Warner,  where  we  w^ere  put  np,  for  the 
Conventional  season,  with  the  family  of  a  Br.  Courier. 

Septemher  17th  and  IStJi. —  TJie  great  Convention.  Here 
I  met  the  following  ministering  brethren  ;  — H.  Ballou,  R. 
Streeter,  S.  Streeter,  H.  Ballou,  2d.,  M.  B.  Ballou,  Elias' 
Smith,  Joshua  Flagg,  Robert  Bartlett,  S.  C.  Loveland,  J. 
Whitnall,  H.  H.  Winchester,  Benj.  AYhittemore,  K.  Haven, 
Wm.  Farwell,  L.  Willis,  Dolphus  Skinner,  J.  E.  Palmer, 
T.  F.  King,  L.  S.  Everett,  J.  Bradley, Parker. 

The  first  sermon,  Wednesday  a.  m.,  was  by  Br.  H.  Bal- 
lou, 2d.,  from  Rom.  i.  25  :  "  Who  changed  the  truth  of  God 
into  a  lie,  and  worshipped  and  served  the  creature  more 
than  the  Creator,  who  is  blessed  forever."  The  second 
sermon,  Wednesday  p.  m.,  was  by  Br.  Elias  Smith,  from 
Dan.  vii.  13,  14  :  "I  saw  in  the  night  visions  one  like  the 
Son  of  man,"  &c.  The  third  discourse,  AYednesday  even- 
ing, devolved  upon  me.  My  text  w?is  John  iii.  35,  36  : 
"  The  Father  loveth  the  Son,  and  hath  given  all  things  into 
his  hand.  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting 
life  ;  and  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son,  shall  not  see  life  ; 
but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him."  Br.  Russell  Street- 
er went  into  the  desk  with  me  and  offered  the  prayer. 
Father  Ballou  also,  being  Moderator  of  the  Convention, 
sat  in  the  desk.  When  I  raised  some  of  the  strong  points 
involved  in  the  text.  Father  Ballou,  absorbed  in  his  interest 
in  the  subject,  and  fearful  that  the  3^oung  preacher  had  un- 
dertaken more  than  he  would  be  able  to  accomplish  satis- 
factorily, would  occasionally  whisper  to  Br.  Streeter,  or  to 
himself  more  probably,  with  sufficient  emphasis  to  be  heard 
even  in  the  pews  which  were  near  the  desk,  "Is  it  possible 
that  he  understands  that  now?  Will  he  bring  that  out 
right  ?  "  Then,  after  listening  the  due  time  with  breathless 
attention,  he  would  exclaim  yet  in  a  louder  whisper,  I  may 


120  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

s^y  an  under  tone  of  voice,  "Yes!  j^es !  that's  it.  Who 
does  not  see  that  ?  How  plain  it  is  !  "  When  the  services 
were  closed,  the  venerable  patriarch  and  renowned  theo- 
logian grasped  the  3'oung  preacher's  hand,  and  bestowed 
upon  his  labor  encouraging  commendation. 

The  fourth  sermon,  Thursday  a.  m.,  was  b}"  Br.  Sebastian 
Streeter,  from  1  John  iii.  3  :  "And  every  man  that  hath 
this  hope  in  him  purifieth  himself,  even  as  he  is  pure." 
And  the  fifth  and  concluding  sermon,  Thursday  p.  m.,  was 
by  Br.  H.  Ballon,  from  Ps.  xlvi.  4  :  "  There  is  a  river,  the 
streams  whereof  shall  make  glad  the  city  of  God."  It  was 
a  powerful  discourse.  The  large  audience  was  overwhelmed 
with  the  abundant  waters  of  the  river  of  God. 

Father  Ballon,  and  others  of  the  elder  laborers  in  the 
Master's  vine^^ard  who  were  present,  were  elated  with 
unusual  jo}'^,  sanctified  with  thanksgiving,  by  prominent 
circumstances  of  this  meeting.  The  Convention  was 
largely  attended,  and  a  spirit  of  love,  sympath}^,  and 
Christian  zeal  prevailed ;  good  news  of  the  advancement 
of  the  cause  was  reported  from  East,  West,  North  and 
South ;  and  eleven  candidates  asked  and  received  letters 
of  Fellowship  as  ministers  of  the  gospel: — viz.,  Thomas 
F.  King,  Linus  S.  Everett,  Joseph  Bradley,  Lemuel  Willis, 
Dolphus  Skinner,  Hiram  B.  Clark,  Asa  Wheaton,  Massena 
B.  Ballon,  Hubbard  H.  Winchester,  and  George  W. 
Brooks. 

On  the  adjournment  of  the  Convention,  we  (self  and 
wife)  accompanied  a  Br.  Eastman  to  his  home  in  Concord, 
N.  H.,  where  we  were  cared  for  over  the  night.  Thence 
we  journeyed  homeward,  spending  a  Sunday  in  Dover,  N. 
H.,  and  another  in  Norway,  Me.,  on  our  winding  way. 

October^  1822.  —  Deferring  for  another  month  our  debut 
in  the  practice  of  house-keeping,  we  made  it  our  home, 


A.    D.    1822.  121 

through  October,  at  my  wife's  parents  in  Hallowell. 
Rather,  my  wife  domiciled  there ;  and  I  kept  up  familiar 
acquaintance  b}^  means  of  personal  visits,  repeated  as 
often  as  my  engagements  in  the  Master's  business  admit- 
ted. I  was  very  busy  on  my  broad,  and  yet  broadening 
circuit.  Two  or  three  incidents  of  this  month  I  deem 
it  expedient  to  minute. 

On  the  first  Sunday,  I  preached  in  an  old  Meeting 
House  at  Boardman's  Point,  in  Gardiner,  —  and  had  an 
appointment  for  an  evening  lecture  in  a  westerly  District 
School  House  in  Gardiner,  near  Litchfield.  The  lecture 
had  been  appointed  there  by  prominent  citizens,  who  had 
no  knowledge  of  any  other  engagement  of  the  building  for 
the  same  hour.  But  when  we  arrived  at  the  place,  we 
found  a  large  congregation  assembled,  and  were  informed 
that  it  was  the  time  and  place  of  a  semi-monthly  Sabbath 
evening  lecture  of  the  Methodist  Elder  Hutchins.  On 
entering  the  house  I  perceived  that  the  Elder  was  sitting 
by  the  desk,  prepared  to  commence  his  services.  I  intro- 
duced myself  to  him ;  informed  hiru  that  my  friends  had 
given  out  an  appointment  for  me  there  without  knowing  of 
his  arrangement ;  and  added,  that,  as  his  appointment  had 
priority,  and  his  friends  had  come  expecting  to  hear  him, 
and  would  sufi'er  disappointment  if  an  exchange  of  speak- 
ers were  made,  I  deemed  it  expedient  that  he  should  pro- 
ceed with  his  services. 

"So,"  replied  Elder  Hutchins,  "many  have  come 
expecting  to  hear  you  preach,  and  will  be  equally  dissat- 
isfied if  they  are  disappointed." 

"  Then,"   I  replied,  "  let   them    all  be  accommodated. 

We  may  both  preach.     As  your  appointment  was  prior  to 

mine,  and  you  are  prepared  to  commence  your  services, 

proceed,  make  your  preliminaries  short,   and  your  sermon 

11 


122  liEF.    STLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

as  brief  as  convenient ;  and  then,  if  there  are  some  who 
desire  to  tarry  and  hear  me,  I,  too,  will  preach." 

The  proposition  pleased  the  Elder ;  he  proceeded  with 
his  services ;  the  prayer  and  singing  were  short,  and  he 
preached  with  reasonable  brevity  from  Rom.  viii.  1 : 
"  There  is  therefore  now  no  condemnation  to  them  which 
are  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after 
the  spirit."  It  was  a  good,  truthful  sermon,  practically 
applying  the  doctrine  of  the  text.  At  the  close  of  his 
discourse,  I  arose  and  spoke  as  follows:  "  I  propose  to 
proceed  forthwith,  omitting  the  form  of  prayer  and  the 
singing,  to  the  delivery  of  a  discourse.  All  who  are  either 
disinclined  to  hear  me,  or  who,  having  come  to  hear  but 
one  discourse,  cannot  conveniently  tarry  to  hear  another, 
may  now  retire,  and  that  without  even  the  appearance  of 
incivilit3\"  No  one  retired.  Elder  Hutchins  and  all  his 
people  remained.  I  took  for  my  text  the  words  of  Jesus 
in  John  iii.  36  :  "  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  ever- 
lasting life  :  and  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son,  shall  not 
see  life  ;  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him."  There 
was  a  look  of  strange  surprise  and  earnest  inquiry  when  I 
read  this  text ;  for  it  had  generally  been  perverted  to  use 
as  being  contrary  to  Universalism.  But  I  selected  this 
text  during  the  Elder's  discourse,  for  its  adaptedness  to  a 
valuable  purpose.  I  explained  it  as  a  confirmation  of  the 
doctrine  of  my  brother's  text  and  excellent  discourse, 
showing  that  the  phrase,  "he  that  believeth  on  the  Son 
hath  everlasting  life,"  expressed  the  same  sentiment  as  the 
words,  "  There  is  therefore  now  no  condemnation  to  them 
that  are  in  Christ  Jesus,"  denoting  that  justification  and 
life  which  is  now  enjoj^ed  by  the  believer  as  the  fruit  of 
faith  ;  and  that  of  course  the  opposite  deprivation  of  life  and 
subjection  to  wrath  or  condemnation,  is  at  the  same  time 


A.    D.    1S22.  123 

the  fruit  of  unbelief  and  sin.  But  this  is  not  i^  final  state. 
Unbelief  does  not  destroy  the  truth  of  God's  purpose  of 
grace  which  it  discredits.  Unbelief  is  not  eternal.  Un- 
belief is  falsehood.  Falsehood  is  not  eternal.  Truth  is 
eternal.  Unbelief  is  a  dark  cloud.  Clouds  and  darkness 
are  not  eternal.     Light  is  eternal,  —  and  will  prevail. 

Profound  attention  was  given  to  the  discourse.  Not  a 
word  of  disharmony  was  uttered.  Mutual  greetings  passed 
around.  And  it  was  the  general  opinion  of  my  friends 
that  the  two  parts  of  the  exercises  working  together  would 
prove  productive  of  greater  good  than  either  part  alone 
could  have  accomplished. 

A  little  later  in  the  month  I  went  out  again  on  my  East- 
ern Circuit ;  and  on  this  tour  planted  the  Gospel  Banner 
in  three  other  first-class  villages,  where  the  gospel  which  is 
effulgent  with  the  light  of  God's  universal  Fatherhood  had 
not  been  preached  before.  These  were  Bath,  Wiscasset,  and 
Thomaston. 

I  took  Bath  on  my  way  out.  It  was  always  by  invita- 
tion that  I  entered  new  places  with  the  ministry  of  Univer- 
salism.  After  my  first  ministerial  tour  in  Nov.  1820  (see 
page  83),  the  hard  necessity  did  not  devolve  upon  me  to 
seek  opportunities  to  preach,  or  to  "  get  up  "  the  first. meet- 
ing in  any  new  place.  I  would  not  have  hesitated  to  do 
this,  if  I  had  not  otherwise  a  suflScient  quantity  of  labor 
always  furnished  me.  But  I  was  invited  into  new  towns 
and  villages,  sometimes  by  letter  from  some  one  who  had 
heard  of  my  labors  in  the  region  round  about ;  and  at 
other  times  by  personal  application  at  the  close  of  a  public 
service  in  another  place,  by  one  who  was  in  attendance  as 
a  hearer  there.  The  brethren  who  were  among  the  original 
providers  for  my  lectures  in  Bath,  and  one  of  whom  had 
extended  to  me  by  letter  the  invitation  to  this  visit,  were, 


124  JiEF.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

Capt.  Samuel  Winter,  Joseph  BUsb,  Nathaniel  Swazey,  and 
Oliver  Moses. 

This  introductory  lecture  in  Bath  was  on  the  11th  inst. 
(Oct.  1822).  My  friends  had  made  application  for  the 
Baptist  Meeting  House.  The  Pastor,  Rev.  Mr.  Stearns,  a 
man  of  a  genial  spirit,  and  two  of  the  parish  Committee, 
one  of  whom  was  Dea.  Swanton,  readily  acceded  to  the 
request ;  and  the  appointment  was  published  accordingly. 
But  Dea.  Low,  another  member  of  the  Committee,  on  being 
informed  of  the  arrangement,  was  so  violent  in  his  opposi- 
tion to  it,  that  even  my  friends  deemed  it  inexpedient  to 
insist  on  its  being  carried  out,  and  changed  the  appoint- 
ment to  a  large  and  commodious  School  House  near  the 
old  Church  on  the  hill ;  Rev.  Mr.  Whittaker,  a  Unitarian 
clergyman  of  New  Bedford,  Mass.,  Avas  present,  and  by 
my  invitation  offered  the  Prayer.  The  meeting  was  well 
attended  ;  and  it  initiated  a  continuous  work,  which  pros- 
pered to  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  society  of  the 
first  class  of  Universalist  societies  in  the  State.  I  contin- 
ued to  preach  lectures  there  on  week  evenings  occasion  all}?" 
until  I  removed  to  Maiden,  Mass.,  in  the  spring  of  1828. 
Within  a  few  months  of  that  removal  I  preached  two  Sun- 
days there  ;  when  the  brethren  in  Bath  proposed  to  unite 
their  endeavors  with  those  in  Brunswick,  where  I  had  also 
raised  a  society,  to  engage  my  constant  services  with  the 
two  societies.  But  my  engagement  at  Maiden  was  too  far 
advanced  to  admit  of  m}'  compliance  with  these  desires. 
The  Bath  society  worked  on,  how^ever ;  and,  in  December, 
1839,  it  devolved  upon  me,  then  residing  in  Waltham, 
Mass.,  to  deliver  the  sermon  at  the  Dedication  of  a  new 
Meeting  House  which  they  had  builded.  Since  then  the 
society  has  grown  to  the  capacity  to  need  and  build  another 
and  larger  Church,  for  which  they  abandoned  the  first. 


A.    D.    1S22,  125 

This   second   is   one   of  the   most   magnificent   Churches 
owned  b}^  the  Universalist  denomination  in  Maine. 

On  the  second  Sunday  in  this  month  (Oct.  1822),  I 
preached  in  Hope. 

Monday^  the  14^7^,— delivered  a  lecture  in  Thomaston  (the 
part  called  East  Thomaston,  and  since  incorporated  into 
the  town  of  Rockland),  situated  on  the  sea-shore,  about  a 
dozen  miles  south  of  Hope  and  Union.  This  is  another 
of  my  advances  upon  new  territory  with  "the  glorious 
gospel  of  the  blessed  God."  I  went  by  invitation  of 
Maj.  Spear,  who  had  frequently  attended  my  meetings  in 
Union  and  Hope.  Here,  too,  a  perpetual  Universalist 
organization  hence  proceeded,  which  in  due  time  provided 
itself  with  a  Church  and  a  regular  pastor ;  and,  I  trust, 
will  abide  throuojh  the  a^jes. 

The  second  day  from  this,  Wednesday  the  16th,  I  was 
lecturing  away  in  Belfast,  near  the  head  of  Penobscot  Bay; 
and  then,  on  the  succeeding  Sunday,  preached  in  Union. 

I  took  Wiscasset  on  my  return  route  this  time,  and 
preached  there  Tuesday  evening,  the  22d,  in  the  Town 
Hall.  This  is  the  other  "  first-class  village"  into  which  I 
introduced  the  ministry  of  Universalism  on  this  tour. 
The  audience  was  crowded,'  and  interestedly  attentive.  J. 
W.  Hoskins,  who  subsequently  became  a  preacher,  and 
Messrs.  Damon  and  Hall,  were  among  the  originators  of 
this  movement ;  and  the  work  was  continued  somewhat  as 
in  the  other  places  where  it  was  inaugurated. 

Wiscasset  is  an  important  Port  of  Entry,  and  one  of  the 
Capitals  of  Lincoln  county. 


11* 


126  liEV,    SYLVAN  us    COBB,    D,D. 

HOUSE  KEEPING. 

November  5th,  1822.  —  We  moved,  self  and  wife,  with  our 
economical  household  stuff,  to  our  accepted  home,  Water- 
ville.  We  boarded  with  Maj.  R.  M.  Doit  two  days,  for 
the  arrival  and  putting  up  of  our  furniture ;  and,  on  the 
7th,  entered  as  tenants  into  N.  Oilman's  little  new  "  green 
house,"  on  the  lot  near  Ticonic  Falls,  called  the  Nursery. 
A  new  and  happy  mode  of  life,  for  the  development  of  true 
man  and  w^omanhood,  and  the  highest  enjoyment  of  the 
most  sacred  relations. 

Of  course,  having  been  making  this  place  my  home,  and 
the  society  my  pastoral  charge,  between  one  and  two  years, 
I  had  formed  a  pretty  familiar  acquaintance  with  the 
people,  and  hence  had  learned  to  esteem  them  for  their 
brotherly  kindness.  But  now  that  I  had  settled  down 
among  them  in  the  family  gear,  in  the  more  completeness 
of  manhood  by  the  attachment  to  self  of  my  "  better  half," 
which  is  the  manhood  constituted  primaril}^  of  God,  who 
created  man  in  his  own  image,  male  and  female,  —  now  I 
seemed  to  them  more  as  a  fixture  in  the  pastoral  relation  ; 
and  their  fraternal  affections  and  kind  and  respectful  atten- 
tions were  more  fully  developed  and  visibly  drawn  out. 

THE  WIFE'S   RELIGIOUSNESS. 

And  then  the  enlightened  faith  and  living  religious  zeal 
of  the  wife,  combined  with  her  naturally  sympathetic  and 
social  habits,  constituted  her  a  help-mate  indeed  to  me  in 
my  official  Christian  labors.  Her  whole  soul  was  imbued 
with  the  love  of  Universalism,  as  the  perfect  form  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  and  her  interest  was  not  second  to  mine  in  the 
upbuilding  and  the  honor  of  the  Uuiversalist  denomination, 


A.   D.    18.:2.  127 

for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  mankind.  In  her 
childhood  she  had  received  a  strictly  Calvinistic  education  ; 
when  sixteen  years  of  age  she  was  a  subject  of  marked  reli- 
gious influences,  and  was  with  consent  proposed  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Calvinist  Baptist  Church  in  Hallowell.  But 
difficulties  in  the  creed  of  that  church  presented  themselves 
to  her  view  on  reflection,  and  increased  in  then*  consequence 
as  she  examined  them  ;  insomuch  that  she  asked  for  a  post- 
ponement of  action  on  her  case.  Her  father-in-law  had,  a 
little  while  before,  been  moved  by  circumstances  to  a  cle 
novo  study  of  the  Scriptures,  by  which  he  had  advanced 
into  the  light  of  Universalism.  But,  being  alone  in  his 
faith  in  that  town,  and  himself  but  a  new-born  babe  in  the 
light,  he  did  not  deem  it  expedient  to  interfere  with  the 
religious  convictions  of  his  step-daughter.  Nevertheless 
his  example  doubtless  had  an  important  influence  in  encour- 
aging her  to  a  like  candid  search  of  the  Scriptures.  By 
this  process  she  soon  became  an  enthusiastic  convert  to  the 
faith  of  Christ  as  the  impartial  and  efficient  Saviour  of  the 
world.  She  withdrew  her  application  for  membership  in 
the  Baptist  church,  giving  and  vindicating  her  reasons  for 
this  change  of  purpose.  It  was  not  until  two  or  three  years 
after  this  that  I  made  her  acquaintance.  And  I  did  not 
misjudge,  upon  acquaintance,  in  my  opinion  that  in  her 
was  a  mind  that  would  sympathize  and  co-operate  with  my 
own  in  the  work  of  building  Zion  ;  and  which  would  be  a 
life-long  light  and  joy  of  my  home. 

Our  Home  in  Waterville,  with  regard  to  its  social 
relations,  was  an  eminently  desirable  one.  I  had  had 
boarding  places  which  I  called  my  homes  for  the  time 
being,  because  they  were  respectively  my  dwelling  places. 
But,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  this  was  my  second 
Home,  —  the  first  after  leaving  the  parental  mansion.     It 


128  REV.    SYLVA^US     COUB,    D.U. 

was  ony  home  ;  and  it  was  in  the  midst  of  ni}^  people.  Of 
our  own  society,  the  older  members  were  as  parents  to  us. 
At  their  houses  and  tables  we  were  as  children.  And  the 
3'ounger  members  were  as  faithful  and  affectionate  brothers 
and  sisters.  And  with  all  the  citizens,  of  the  various  reli- 
gious denominations,  we  maintained  unvarying  pleasant 
and  mutually  respectful  relations.  The  same  may  be  said 
of  our  standing  with  the  Baptist  College  Faculty  and  Stu- 
dents. Waterville  College  was  originated  by  the  Baptist 
denomination  ;  and  it  was  accordingly  officered  from  mem- 
bers of  their  communion,  and  conducted  in  their  interests. 
Puplic  worship  on  the  Sabbath  was  conducted  by  some 
member  of  the  College  Faculty.  On  the  Sabbaths  when 
my  meeting  was  in  the  village,  as  I  occupied  the  Meeting 
House,  they  occupied  a  School  House ;  and  on  the  other 
Sabbaths  they  worshipped  in  the  Meeting  House,  which 
was  an  old  building  belonging  to  the  town ;  and  was,  in 
those  days,  the  onl}^  Meeting  House  in  the  Village.  The 
Baptists,  however,  built  them  a  commodious  Church  before 
I  left  the  place  ;  and  the  Universalists  a  few  years  after. 

December,  1822.  —  This  month  I  went  again  on  my  regular 
Eastern  circuit,  and  extended  it  to  the  inclusion  of  Castine, 
a  seaport  in  Hancock  county,  on  a  peninsula  on  the  east 
side  of  Penobscot  Bay,  opposite  Belfast.  Lecturing  in 
Belfast,  and  in  Waldo  also,  a  town  near,  in  the  week  be- 
tween the  first  and  second  Sundays  in  Union,  on  Wednes- 
day, the  4th,  I  crossed  the  Bay  by  packet  to  Castine,  where 
I  preached  in  the  Court  House  in  the  evening ;  when  an 
appointment  was  extemporized  for  another  lecture,  which 
I  delivered,  the  next,  which  was  Thanksgiving  evening. 
The  lectures  were  fully  attended,  and  i3ut  into  operation 
working  forces  which  iDrocured  repeated  visits  from  me, 
running  through  the  remaining  years  during  which  I  con- 


A.    D.    1823.  129 

tinued  the  charge  of  this  circuit.     My  home,  when  here, 
was  generally  with  the  family  of  Esq.  Howe. 

A.  D.  1823. 

January. — At  Skowhegan  Falls,  at  a  lecture  on  the 
18th  of  this  month,  an  incident  occurred  which  it  may  be 
instructive  to  notice.  On  entering  the  desk,  I  found  a  slip 
of  paper  lying  upon  it,  addressed  to  me,  referring  to  Matt. 
XXV.  46  :  "And  these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  pun- 
ishment :  but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal."  I  of  course 
understood  that  this  imported  a  desire  that  I  should  make 
that  passage  my  text.  When  I  came  to  the  point  of  begin- 
ning the  sermon,  I  read  the  billet,  and  remarked,  — That  I 
did  not  hold  myself  under  obligation  to  comply  with  re- 
quests put  in  in  that  manner,  because  it  did  not  imply 
in  the  originator  of  the  movement  an  honorable  desire  to 
promote  Scripture  knowledge.  For  if  he  either  desired 
instruction  himself,  or  wished  it  imparted  to  the  people, 
he  would  have  addressed  me  a  note  some  days  before  the 
meeting,  communicating  his  wishes,  that  I  might  have 
opportunity  to  review  the  text  and  all  its  connections,  to 
prepare  m^^self  for  giving  the  most  clear  and  profitable 
exposition  of  it.  I  thought  it  obvious  that  his  design  was 
to  embarrass  me.  Nevertheless,  as  I  was  familiar  with  the 
subject,  and  the  connections  so  fully  explained  the  text,  — 
and  as  there  were  many  there  (for  there  was  a  crowded 
assembly  present)  who  might  not  be  able  to  avail  them- 
selves of  so  favorable  an  opportunity  for  hearing  a  fair  and 
legitimate  exposition  of  this  much  controverted  portion  of 
the  sacred  Eecord,  I  would  proceed  at  once  to  the  work 
placed  before  me. 

Commencing,  at  the  beginning  of  the  preceding  chapter, 


130  JiEV.     SYLVAXUS     COBB,    D.D. 

with  the  opening  of  the  discourse  of  Christ  to  his  disciples 
which  is  closed  with  the  words  of  the  text,  I  showed,  in  a 
discourse  of  two  hours,  that  it  referred  to  the  judgment  of 
that  age,  which  before  that  generation  should  haA'C  passed 
away  (xxiv.  34),  would  terminate  the  Jewish  polity  ;  when 
the  enemies  of  Christ,  generally,  would  suffer  the  direct 
calamities,  and  the  evils  abide  for  ages,  signified  by  the 
term  aionion,  rendered  everlasting,  —  and  the  servants  of 
Christ  would  be  emancipated  from  the  oppressions  which 
had  borne  upon  them,  into  an  enlarged  enjoyment  of  the 
everlasting  life  of  the  gospel.  The  great  audience  gave 
breathless  attention  throughout ;  and  my  friends  were  im- 
pressed with  the  conviction  that  the  labors  of  the  evening 
would  prove  profitably  promotive  of  Biblical  knowledge. 

THE  WIFE'S  SYMPATHY,  ZEAL,  AND  ENDUR- 
ANCE. 

In  the  last  half  of  this  month  (Jan.,  1823),  and  the  first 
half  of  February,  my  wife  accompanied  me  on  my  eastern 
circuit,  which  also  I  considerably  extended  up  the  Penob- 
scot Eiver.  It  will  be  borne  in  mind  that  those  were  not 
days  of  rail-roading.  I  drove  my  own  team  then  ;  and  the 
vehicle  on  those  winter  tours  was  the  open  sleigh.  To  set 
forth  the  fortitude  of  the  young  wife,  I  will  sketch  this 
tour  somewhat  in  detail,  as  follows  :  — 

Jan.  22d.  —  I  started  on  an  eastern  tour,  with  Mrs.  Cobb 
in  company.  Went  as  far  as  Sidney,  and  delivered  an 
evening  lecture  in  the  Brick  School  House. 

2M.  —  Went  to  Gardiner,  and  preached  in  the  evening. 

2At7i  and  25th.  —  Reached  Thomaston. 

Sunday  the  2Qth.  — Preached  in  Thomaston. 


A.    D.    1823.  131 

ZOth. — A  lecture  in  Hope,  at  the  house  of  Mr.  George 
Bowley. 

February  1st.  —  An  evening  discourse  in  the  Baptist 
Church  in  Union.  Our  meetings  in  Union  are  generally 
held  in  the  Town  Meeting  House,  at  the  Centre. 

Sunday^  the  2d.  —  Preached  two  discourses  in  Union; 
and  after  the  second  discourse  we  rode  ten  miles,  to  Sears- 
mont,  where  I  delivered  a  lecture  in  the  evening. 

Ath. — Took  passage,  by  packet,  across  Penobscot  Bay, 
from  Belfast  to  Castine,  where  I  preached  a  lecture  in  the 
Court  House  in  the  evening. 

bill.  —  Preached  again  in  the  Castine  Court  House. 
Were  kindly  entertained  at  Esq.  Howe's. 

6f/i.  — Attempted  to  recross  Penobscot  Bay  by  the  faith- 
ful little  daily  packet.  But  we  had  to  face  directly  a  cold 
heavy  wind,  which  sometimes  blew  a  gale.  The  Captain 
w^as  anxious  to  make  his  trip  ;  and  six  hours  he  beat 
against  the  strong  wind.  The  waves  several  times  dashed 
over  the  deck,  throwing  some  rather  uncomfortable  quan- 
tities of  water  down  into  the  cabin.  At  length,  night 
drawing  nigh,  the  Captain  relinquished  his  purpose,  to  the 
joy  of  us  all,  and  set  his  course  back  to  Castine,  which  he 
reached,  running  with  the  wind,  in  less  than  an  hour. 

'JtJi.  —  Wind  and  weather  continued  to  be  such  that  we 
kept  comfortably  housed  with  our  kind  host  in  Castine. 

Sth.  —  At  half  past  11  a.  m.  we  again  entered  the  packet 
for  Belfast.  The  vessel  was  often  taken  and  carried  out 
of  her  way  by  large  floats  of  ice,  —  so  that  we  did  not 
arrive  at  Belfast  until  8  o'clock  in  the  evening  (Saturday). 
This  put  over  to  Sunday  morning  the  ride  which  I  would 
have  taken  this  evening,  to  meet  my  Sunday's  appointment 
at  Hope. 

Sunday^  the  dth.  —  I  left  Mrs.  Cobb  with  our  old  friend, 


132  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB^   D.D. 

Master  Eclmands,  in  Belfast,  and  took  out  my  team  which 
he  had  kindly  kept  during  my  absence  at  Castine,  and  rode 
eighteen  miles  to  Hope,  where,  notwithstanding  the  weather 
was  very  cold,  I  met  with  and  addressed  a  full  audience,  in 
the  Baptist  Meeting  House. 

lOtli^  Monday. — Returned  to  Belfast;  and  preached  in 
the  evening,  at  the  "  Head  of  the  Tide." 

llth.  —  We  rode  up  the  Penobscot  to  Hampden,  where 
I  preached  in  the  evening.  Hampden  is  situated  on  the 
west  side  of  the  Penobscot,  six  miles  below  Bangor,  a  port 
of  entry,  with  good  educational  provisions,  and  mechanical 
and  commercial  thrift.  This  was  my  first  visit  to  the 
place  ;  and,  if  my  information  is  correct,  it  was  the  first 
proclamation  there  of  the  gospel  of  Him,  in  whom,  accord- 
ing to  the  pleasure  of  the  Father,  all  fulness  dwells.  We 
were  entertained  by  Capt.  Grant,  and  called  by  invitation 
upon  Gen.  Jedidiah  Herrick,  who,  I  believe,  was  the  cor- 
respondent whose  note  of  solicitation  procured  this  initia- 
tory visit. 

12th.  —  Preached  in  Bangor,  which  is  a  city  at  the  head 
of  navigation  on  the  Penobscot.  We  were  kindly  enter- 
tained by  Br.  Chick,  Inn-keeper.  I  believe  my  invitation 
to  this  pioneer  visit  was  received  from  Br.  Burton,  a 
printer.  This  I  call  a  pioneer  visit  to  that  city.  I  have 
an  impression  that  some  travelling  Universalist  preacher 
had,  some  time  before,  stopped  and  given  a  discourse  in 
this  place  ;  but  no  abiding  and  working  influence  proceeded 
from  it.  Nor  could  I  now  add  this  place  to  my  already 
over-expanded  circuit,  to  give  it  any  regular  attention.  I 
visited  them  again  the  next  summer ;  and,  soon  after,  from 
some  source,  they  obtained  the  preached  word,  and  grew 
into  a  regular  society,  which,  in  a  few  years,  became  per- 
manently established  with  anew  Church  and  settled  pastor. 


A.    I).    1823.  133 

IStJi.  —  We  journeyed  from  Bangor  toLigonia,  where  we 
took  lodgings  with  E.  Farnuni,  Esq. 

14:th.  —  Returned,  in  health  and  happiness,  to  our  home 
in  Waterville. 

And  now,  I  submit  it  to  mj^  children,  whether  the  quali- 
ties of  mind  in  my  young  wife,  which  inspired  her  blithely 
to  step  into  my  sleigh  for  such  a  tour  in  the  middle  of  a 
Maine  winter,  and  to  laugh  at  all  its  hardships,  should  not 
have  been  expected  to  develop  their  mothers  energy  of 
character,  and  extensive  religious  and  social  influence. 

Marcli^  1823.  —  Besides  the  usual  routine  of  labor,  I  this 
month  introduced  the  ministry  of  Universalism  into  two 
other  towns  near  each  other.  Newport  and  Palmyra,  the 
former  of  which  is  in  Penobscot,  and  the  latter  in  Somerset 
county.  To  the  former  place  I  was  called  by  Dr.  Wright ; 
and  to  the  latter  by  Esq.  Lancy. 

Passing  matters  of  common  interest,  I  have  to  note  an 
exciting  and  important  event  of  June  5th,  which  was 

The  Birth  of  Our  First  Child,  a  Son.      All  well. 

The  Eastern  Association  of  Universalists  met  in  Water- 
ville also  on  the  25th  and  26th  of  this  month,  June,  1823. 
The  following  ministering  brethren  were  j^resent,  besides 
myself:  —  Hosea  Ballon,  Russell  Streeter,  Wm.  A.Drew, 
Fayette  Mace,  Jabez  Woodman,  Wm.  Frost.  Brs.  Alvin 
Dinsmore  of  Winthrop,  and  Haskins  of  Wiscasset,  received 
Letters  of  Fellowship  as  preachers  of  the  word.  Five  dis- 
courses were  delivered  during  the  occasion,  two  by  Father 
Ballou,  and  one  each  by  Brs.  Drew,  Mace  and  Streeter. 
12 


134  liEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 


THE  BAPTISM. 


On  the  second  day  of  the  Association,  Thursday,  June 
26th,  our  infant  son  was  publicly  dedicated  by  Father 
Hosea  Ballon,  by  the  name,  Sylvanus. 

Mrs.  Cobb's  parents,  and  mine  also,  were  with  us  during 
this  term  of  the  Association,  which  was  to  us  a  great  occa- 
sion. Especially  was  the  visit  of  my  mother  a  rare  treat 
to  me ;  as  she  had  scarcely  ever  journeyed  beyond  the 
limits  of  her  own  immediate  neighborhood,  since  she  moved 
from  Middleboro',  Mass.,  to  Norway,  Me.  For  this  visit 
she  made  a  journey  of  about  50  miles.  But  she  had  good 
weather  and  good  care,  and  suffered  no  harm. 

In  July  I  made  an  extended  Eastern  tour  ;  preaching  in 
Union,  Hope,  Lincolnville,  Belfast,  Castine,  Eddington, 
Bangor,  Hampden  and  Unity.  On  one  of  the  Sabbaths 
embraced  in  this  tour,  I  performed  a  severe  day's  work,  — 
the  first  which  seriously  fatigued  me.  In  the  forenoon  I 
preached  in  Eddington,  in  the  house  of  Widow  Sibley,  com- 
mencing at  9  o'clock.  I  had  preached  two  lectures  there 
in  the  preceding  week ;  but  now,  on  Sunday  morning,  a 
large  concourse  of  people  were  assembled,  some  having 
come  fifteen  miles  or  more  ;  but  few  of  them  had  ever  heard 
Universalism  preached,  and  they  generally  wanted  the 
whole  sj^stem  of  doctrine,  and  its  harmony  with  the  whole 
Bible.  I  preached  from  9  o'clock  to  11.  Then  I  rode  ten 
miles,  to  Bangor ;  dined,  and  commenced  service  in  the 
Court  House  at  2  o'clock  p.  m.  Here,  too,  I  must  needs 
deliver  somewhat  more  than  a  thirty  minute  essay.  I  did 
well  in  the  line  of  brevity  to  get  through  all  the  services  at 
3  o'clock  and  45  minutes  :  when  I  took  my  carriage  again 
and  hastened  to  Hampden,  six  miles  from  Bangor,  to  meet 
an   appointment  in   the   Congregational   Meeting    House 


A.    D.    1823.  135 

there  at  5  p.  m.  I  arrived  just  in  time,  and  found  a  large 
conorreoration  assembled. 

An  amusing  incident  occurred  here,  which  I  will  record. 
Professor  Smith,  of  Bangor  Theological  Seminary,  Calvin- 
ist,  occupied  the  pulpit  of  this  church  in  the  day.  Gen. 
Herrick  sent  him  a  note  to  be  read  from  the  desk,  as  fol- 
lows :  "  Rev.  Sylvanus  Cobb,  of  Waterville,  will  preach^a 
lecture  in  this  house  this  afternoon,  at  5  o'clock."  The 
Professor,  at  the  close  of  his  afternoon  service,  held  out  the 
notice  with  his  thumb  and  fingers,  and  spoke  as  follows  :  — 
"  I  have  here  a  notice,  signed  by  a  respectable  name,  with 
the  request  that  1  should  read  it ;  announcing  that  Rev. 
Sylvanus  Cobb,  of  Waterville,  will  preach  in  this  house  this 
afternoon  at  5  o'clock.  Who  this  Mr.  Cobb  is,  or  what  he 
is,  I  do  not  know.  He  is  not  a  Congregationalist ;  for  we 
have  no  society  in  Waterville.  Nor  is  he  a  Methodist ;  for 
neither  is  there  a  Methodist  society  in  that  place.  And 
I  am  acquainted  with  the  Baptist  clergymen  connected  with 
the  Waterville  College  ;  and  there  is  no  one  of  that  denom- 
ination there  by  the  name  of  Cobb.  It  must  be  that  he  is 
a  Universalist ;  and  I  will  have  you  to  know  that  I  will  not 
give  out  an  appointment  for  a  Universalist  preacher  !  " 

The  dear  man,  it  will  be  seen,  announced  the  whole  fact 
at  the  outset.  And  this  queer  and  ludicrous  method  of 
getting  out  the  notice  produced  much  amusement  for  the 
people  ;  and  it  was  doubtless  instrumental  in  bringing  out 
an  increased  number  of  hearers.  At  the  close  of  this  meet- 
ing I  felt  uncomfortably  fatigued. 

For  the  remaining  five  months  of  this  3^ear  (1823)  my 
Diary  is  filled  with  the  records  of  abundant  labors  ;  —  pa- 
rochial duties,  examining  candidates  for  school  keeping, 
visiting  schools,  &c.,  at  home  ;  and  travelling  through  sun- 
shines and  storms,  and  preaching  on  week  evenings  and 


136  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBD^    D.D. 

Sundaj^s,  over  a  wide  area,  East,  West,  North  and  South. 
These  were  my  ordinary  labors,  in  which  nothing  occurred 
which  I  deem  important  to  note  here,  except  the  following 
incident :  — 

M}'  Eastern  tour,  embracing  Belfast  and  Castine,  was  to 
be  made  in  September.  My  friends  in  Belfast  were  inquir- 
ing for  a  place  in  which  to  hold  their  meeting.  Dea. 
McCrillis,  of  the  Baptist  church,  proposed  that  he  would 
open  to  me  their  Meeting  House,  on  condition  that  I  would 
preach  from  a  text  which  he  would  give  me.  I  was  forth- 
with written  on  the  subject,  and  accepted  the  proposition 
of  course.  The  text  selected  by  the  Deacon  was,  Gen.  iii. 
4  :  "  And  the  serpent  said  unto  the  woman.  Ye  shall  not 
surely  die."  On  the  day  set,  Sept.  11,  I  was  at  hand,  and 
in  the  Baptist  Pulpit  at  the  appointed  minute.  The  house 
was  crowded,  and  there  were  as  manj^  hearers  outside  as 
in,  clustered  around  the  open  doors  and  windows.  The 
Deacon  probably  supposed  that  the  text  so  precisely  rep- 
resented the  Universalist  position,  that  I  should  either 
refuse  to  accept  his  challenge,  or  falter  under  the  effort  to 
speak  upon  it  if  I  should  undertake  the  business.  But,  to 
his  disappointment  and  discomfort,  he  found  the  tables 
turned  upon  his  own  school.  I  stated  the  common  opin- 
ion, that  the  death  in  that  connection  meant  endless  mis- 
ery as  the  punishment  of  sin ;  and  showed  that,  as  Adam 
sinned,  and  "  all  have  sinned,"  Adam  and  all  men  must 
suffer  endless  death  to  make  the  Divine  threatening  true 
with  this  construction.  Then  I  showed  that  they  who  so 
interpret  the  term  death  in  this  connection  and  yet  main- 
tain that  millions  of  the  human  race  will  by  some  means 
escape  endless  death,  do  so  far  take  the  serpent's  position, 
"ye  shall  not  surely  die."     That  is,  they  deny  that  Adam 


A.    n.    1823.  137 

and  all  men  shall  surely  die  the  death  which  they  them- 
selves assume  was  meant  in  the  threatening. 

Then  I  showed  what  is  really  the  death  meant  as  the 
penalty  of  God's  law,  that  is,  the  death  which  is  the  wages 
or  fruit  of  sin,  —  viz.,  moral  death,  including  all  the  inca- 
pabilities of  happiness,  and  the  positive  evils,  which  are 
involved  in  a  state  of  sin  ;  and  that  this  death  is  surely  and 
necessarily  suffered  by  all  who  sin,  while  they  are  in  that 
moral  state.  The  apostles  had  suffered  it  when  they  were 
in  sin  ;  for  St.  John  says,  "  We  know  that  we  have  passed 
from  death  unto  life,  because  we  love  the  brethren." 
Again,  "  He  that  loveth  not  his  brother  abideth  in  death." 
And  St.  Paul,  —  "To  be  carnally  minded  is  death."  And 
all  the  church  were  in  this  death  when  they  were  in  sin ; 
for  St.  Paul  says  again,  "  You  hath  he  quickened  who  were 
dead  in  trespasses  and  sins."  It  was  therefore  plain,  that 
our  doctrinal  opposers  not  only  deny  the  truth  of  the  word 
of  God  in  the  context,  "  In  the  day  thou  sinnest  thou  shalt 
surely  die,"  in  its  general  application,  with  their  own  defi- 
nition of  the  term  death ;  but  that,  by  denying  the  doc- 
trine of  a  just  retribution  for  sin  in  the  state  of  sin,  they 
are  found  also  on  the  serpent's  side  in  relation  to  the  cer- 
tainty of  the  death  threatened  when  incurred,  when  taken 
as  that  which  was  really  meant,  and  is  always  in  the  Scrip- 
tures meant  as  the  wages  of  sin.  They  say  to  sinners,  "  Li 
the  day  ye  transgress,"  "  ye  shall  not  surely  die."  Univer- 
salists  only  maintain,  with  firmness  and  fidelity,  the  unde- 
viating  truth  of  God's  word,  that  whenever  and  wherever 
men  will  live  in  sin,  they  shall  linger  in  death ;  that 
"  though  hand  join  in  hand,  the  wicked  shall  not  be  unpun- 
ished ; "  that  it  is  vain  to  imagine  that  they  may  sin  with 
impunity ;  that  in  the  day  they  transgress  God's  laws, 
12* 


13«S  nEV.    SYLVANUS     CODJi^    D.D. 

they   shall  surely  die.     Of  course  we  nail  the  lie  to  the 
Serpent  tempter  at  every  step. 

The  discourse  produced  much  excitement.  In  the  even- 
ing, after  the  lecture,  which  was  at  4  o'clock  p.  m.,  and  the 
next  morning,  small  gatherings  of  people  were  seen  at 
various  street  corners  discussing  the  lecture.  I  think  I  had 
not  an  invitation  to  occupy  the  Baptist  pulpit  afterwards. 

A.  D.  1824. 

January.  —  In  the  opening  month  of  this  year  I  again 
perambulated  my  Eastern  circuit.  This  being  only  in  my 
usual  line  of  labor,  I  refer  to  it  here  only  for  the  purpose 
of  taking  occasion  for  the  record  of  an  incident  which  may 
involve  profitable  practical  instruction.  I  had  an  appoint- 
ment to  preach  in  the  Unitarian  Church  in  Belfast  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  5th  inst.  (January).  I  preached  in  that 
Church  on  my  November  tour,  and  the  Pastor,  Rev.  Mr. 
Frothingham,  accompanied  me  into  the  desk,  and  offered 
the  long  prayer.  This  January  lecture  was  engaged  by  me 
to  my  friends  at  that  time  ;  and  subsequently  the  Unitarian 
Church  was  engaged  by  them  for  the  lecture,  of  the  proper 
authority.  But  after  my  arrival,  and  when  the  hour  for 
the  meeting  was  near,  the  house  was  not  opened,  and  it 
was  ascertained  that  a  member  of  the  parish  Committee, 
who  had  the  same  day  obtained  the  key,  was  out  of  town. 
My  friends  immediately  sought  entrance  into  a  School 
House  near  by ;  and  they  were  informed  that  the  same 
retired  Committee-man  had  taken  with  him  the  key  to  that 
also.  There  was  no  other  convenient  room  known  for  the 
meeting,  and  the  people,  large  numbers  of  whom  were 
wending  their  way  along  the  streets  towards  the  Church, 
learning  that  the  Church  was  barred,  and  there  would  be 


A,    D.    1824.  139 

no  meeting,  were  turning  homeward.  Then  a  man  came  to 
me  with  the  word  that  a  gentleman  who  had  a  large  new 
store,  not  yet  occupied,  would,  if  I  would  preach  in  that, 
haA^e  it  furnished  with  settees  and  chairs  in  ten  minutes.  I 
declined  the  proposition,  because  there  was  great  excite- 
ment among  the  people  ;  many  of  them  had  got  beyond  the 
reach  of  notice  for  the  new  arrangement ;  and  I  did  not 
believe  that  a  meeting  then  and  there  would  be  useful.  I 
believed  that  the  affair  as  it  had  occurred  and  was  coming 
off  would  be  overruled  of  the  good  Lord  for  the  advance- 
ment of  his  cause.     Audit  was  so. 

The  next  day  I  went  over  to  Castine ;  and  I  lectured 
there  the  two  succeeding  ev^enings.  While  there  I  had  my 
attention  called  to  a  notice  in  a  Belfast  paper  published  the 
day  after  the  disappointment,  calling  a  meeting  of  the 
Universalists  of  Belfast  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a 
regular  society.  The  society  was  organized,  and  has  lived 
to  this  day  (1866). 

In  justice  to  the  memory  of  the  Unitarian  society  I  will 
here  put  down  the  opinion  that  the  action  of  the  Committee- 
man who  plotted  and  executed  our  exclusion  from  their 
Church,  did  not  represent  the  spirit  of  the  parish ;  for  so 
general  and  decisive  was  their  disapprobation  of  the  trick, 
that  the  Church  was  voluntarily  offered  for  my  use  on  my 
next  bi-monthly  visit,  in  March.  But,  for  then  existing 
reasons,  my  friends  chose  to  decline  the  acceptance  of  it. 
They  cherished  none  other  than  feelings  of  kindness 
towards  that  society  ;  but  they  had  legally  organized  them- 
selves into  "  The  Christian  Society  of  Universalists  in 
Belfast,"  —  had  arranged  for  the  time  being  for  the  use  of 
a  hall  for  their  meetings,  for  which  they  would  be  laid 
under  no  obligations,  and  chose  to  act  independently.  And 
they  prospered  to  such  a  degree  that,  in  one  year  from  this 


140  ItEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

time,  January  1825,  they  were  able  to  procure  the  pastoral 
services  of  Br.  Wm.  A.  Drew  for  one  half  of  the  time. 
The  other  half  of  the  Sabbaths  he  devoted  to  preaching  in 
other  towns  in  the  region  round  about. 

February. — During  the  February  of  this  year  (1824),  I 
visited  for  the  first  time  Piscataquis  County,  and  preached 
a  Sunday  in  Guilford,  and  week  evening  lectures  in  Pal- 
myra, Dover,  Sangerville  and  Parkman.  This  tour  was 
made  by  arrangement  with  Br.  Wm.  Frost,  who  was  labor- 
ing in  that  County.  Br.  Frost  was  a  worthy  Christian 
man,  and  a  substantial  and  useful  preacher,  who,  a  few 
years  before,  came  from  the  Baptist  denomination  into  our 
faith  and  ministry.  On  my  return  from  this  visit  I  preached 
a  lecture  in  Athens,  Somerset  County. 

In  April  there  was  also  a  rare  occurrence  in  the  course 
of  my  round  of  services,  which  it  may  comport  with  the 
interest  of  this  work  to  record.     I  copy  from  my  Diary. 

**  April  —  3d  Sunday.  Preached  at  Tuttle's  Mills  in  Canaan. 
Though  I  mailed  a  letter  announcing  my  appointment  a  week 
before,  yet  on  account  of  the  absence  of  Br.  Corson  to  whom  it 
was  addressed,  it  was  not  opened  until  Saturday  afternoon. 
Rev.  Jotham  Sewell,  Calvinist,  of  Chesterville,  had  given  out  an 
appointment  for  the  occupancy  of  the  same  School  House  in 
which  I  had  proposed  to  preach,  at  the  same  time,  just  before 
my  letter  was  opened.  But  the  date  of  the  letter  was  so  early, 
that  it  was  agreed,  by  both  Mr.  Sewell's  friends  and  mine,  that 
my  appointment  had  the  priority.  This  School  House  was  the 
only  building  in  the  village  which  would  serve  for  a  public 
meeting.  Rev.  Mr.  Sewell  called  upon  me  Sunday  morning, 
and  with  an  air  which  indicated  the  presumption  that  I  might 
relinquish  my  claim  wholly  to  liim,  asked  me  whether  I  expected 
to  occupy  the  School  House  that  day.  A  mutual  explanation 
followed,  when  I  proposed  to  him  that  we  should  all  meet  in  the 
School  House ;  and  that,  in  regard  to  the  preaching,  we  should 
divide  the  day  between  us.    He  declined  accepting  my  proposal, 


A.    D.    1824.  141 

and  left  me  in  the  mood  of  assent  to  the  prevaihng  opinion  that 
mine  was  the  prior  appointment.  But  shortly  after  he  sent  me 
word  that  he  would  accept  my  proposition.  I  forthwith  called 
upon  him,  when  he  informed  me  that,  though  he  had  thought  of 
preaching  in  a  private  house,  he  had  concluded  that,  upon  the 
whole,  it  would  be  best  to  have  but  one  meeting,  and  that  in  the 
School  House.  If  I  would  consent  to  it,  he  would  preach  in  the 
forenoon,  provided  he  should  not  be  held  under  obHgation  to 
attend  my  meeting  in  the  afternoon.  I  replied  that  I  was  will- 
ing that  he  should  preach  in  the  forenoon,  and  I  should  of  choice 
hear  him ;  and  he  should  be  held  at  liberty  to  act  his  pleasure 
about  attending  in  the  afternoon.  His  text  was  Lukexiv.  17: 
'  Come,  for  all  things  are  now  ready.'  The  nobleman's  feast  he 
regarded  as  a  representation  of  the  gospel  provision,  made  for 
the  whole  family  of  man.  The  call  upon  those  who  were  bidden 
to  come  to  the  great  entertainment,  was  the  call  upon  all  men 
to  repent  and  believe  the  gospel ;  or,  in  other  words,  to  accept 
the  gospel  provision.  Their  refusal  represented  the  disposition 
and  conduct  of  all  men  in  a  state  of  nature,  in  rejecting  the  offers 
of  Divine  mercy.  And  the  declaration  of  the  master  of  the 
house,  *  None  of  those  men  which  were  bidden  shall  taste  of 
my  supper,'  represents  the  final  rejection  and  endless  exclusion 
of  all  who  reject  the  offers  of  the  gospel. 

"  In  the  afternoon  I  was  in  the  desk  in  due  time ;  and,  though 
Rev.  Mr.  Sewell  was  absent,  I  was  informed  by  those  who 
knew,  that  nearly  all  his  friends,  who  heard  him  in  the  forenoon, 
were  present  in  the  afternoon.  I  spoke  from  Mark  xvi.  15,  16. 
Having  shown  that  the  gospel  is  the  revelation  of  the  purpose  of 
God's  grace  given  us  in  Christ  Jesus  before  the  world  began, 
making  all  men  heirs  of  immortal  life  and  good ;  and  that  this 
purpose  stands  in  the  wisdom  and  power  of  God,  and  is  neither 
made  a  verity  by  the  belief  of  men,  nor  thwarted  by  their  unbe- 
lief; and  that  men,  by  faith  in  the  gospel,  come  into  the  enjoy- 
ment of  its  salvation  as  the  legitimate  fruit  of  faith,  —  and  by 
unbelief  and  sin  are  self-excluded  from  this  great  good,  and 
abide  in  condemnation  while  their  unbelief  continues;  I  then 
offered  a  brief  review  of  the  discourse  to  which  we  listened  in 
the  morning. 

*'  I  showed  that,  if,  as  the  Rev.  gentleman  alleged,  the  first 
general  invitation  to  the  feast  in  the  parable,  were  the  offers  of 


142  nEV,    SYLVANUS     CODD^    D.D. 

the  gospel  to  all  men ;  and  the  refusal  of  those  bidden  signified 
the  conduct  of  all  men  in  their  state  of  nature  to  refuse  the  gos- 
pel oilers  of  grace  :  and  the  saying,  '  None  of  those  men  which 
were  bidden  shall  taste  of  my  supper,'  signifies  the  final  exclu- 
sion of  the  parties  denoted ;  the  inevitable  conclusion  is,  that 
none  of  the  human  race  shall  ever  taste  of  salvation. 

"  I  then  proceeded  to  offer  my  own  exposition  of  the  parable, 
as  follows :  —  The  first  invitation  of  many  to  the  supper,  repre- 
sents the  ministry  of  the  gospel  to  the  Jews,  to  whom  it  was 
first  promulgated.  The  Jews'  rejection  of  the  gospel,  is  repre- 
sented by  the  treatment  of  the  invitation  of  the  householder  by 
those  who  were  first  bidden  to  the  feast.  The  sending  of  the 
servants  into  the  highways  and  hedges  to  compel  them  to  come 
in,  denotes  the  sending  of  the  gospel  to  the  Gentiles,  and  their 
being  gathered  into  the  fold  of  Christ ;  —  as  Jesus  said  to  the 
Pharisees,  '  The  publicans  and  harlots  shall  go  into  the  kingdom 
of  God  before  you.'  When  Paul  and  Barnabas  heard  the  con- 
tradiction and  blasphemy  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  they 
waxed  bold,  and  said,  '  It  was  necessary  that  the  word  of  God 
should  first  be  spoken  to  yon.  But  seeing  ye  put  it  from  you, 
and  deem  yourselves  unworthy  of  aionion  life,  lo,  we  turn  to  the 
Gentiles.'  This  exclusion  of  the  Jews  from  the  riches  of  the 
gospel  feast  for  the  lime,  is  what  was  signified  by  the  words  of 
the  parable,  '  None  of  those  men  which  w^ere  bidden  shall  taste 
of  my  supper.'  But  the  interdiction  was  not  final ;  for  St.  Paul 
says,  '  Blindness  in  part  is  happened  to  Israel,  until  the  fulness 
of  the  Gentiles  be  come  in.     And  all  Israel  shall  be  saved.' 

"  I  had  an  audience  attentive  as  it  was  large ;  and  my  friends 
were  of  the  opinion  that  the  services  of  that  day  were  rendered 
much  more  instructive  and  profitable  by  means  of  the  confluence 
of  the  two  clerical  appointments." 

June  '2d.  —  Against  this  date  my  Diary  has  the  follow- 
ing entry  :  —  "  Commenced  hewing  timber  for  a  house."  I 
was  encouraged  to  undertake  this  piece  of  work,  the  erec- 
tion of  a  dwelling  house,  by  the  offer  of  numbers  of  my 
parishioners  to  render  me  gratuitous  aid  in  labor  and  rough 
materials.  Br.  Alexander  McKeckney  bade  me  welcome 
to  cut  all  the  timber  from  a  large  timber-lot  of  his.     And 


A.    D.    1824.  143 

a  good  gang  of  hewers  and  choppers  volunteered  to  prepare 
the  timber;  and  it  was  hauled  and  mostly  framed  by  vol- 
unteers also.  But  the  stone  work,  sawn  and  rived  lumber, 
carpentry  and  masonry,  cost  me  considerable.  I  purchased 
a  half  acre  lot  of  Timothy  Bowtwell,  Esq.,  on  the  most 
westerly  long  street  in  Waterville  Village,  since  named 
High  Street,  a  pleasant  site,  on  which  I  built  a  convenient 
two-storied  house,  and  a  barn  to  house  my  horse,  cow,  and 
carriage,  and  made  a  fine  productive  garden. 

June  2od  and  24:th. —  I  attended  the  Eastern  Association 
in  Farmington.  The  ministering  brethren  present,  besides 
myself,  were,  "Wm.  A.  Drew,  Russell  Streeter,  Jabez  Wood- 
man, Faj^ette  Mace,  Wm.  Frost,  Alvin  Dinsmore,  George 
Bates,  —  Dolliff,  and  Henry  Hawkins.  Sermons  were 
preached  by  S.  Oobb,  J.  Woodman,  G.  Bates,  Wm.  Frost, 
and  R.  Streeter.  Ordination  was  conferred  on  A.  Dins- 
more,  and  Letters  of  Fellowship  were  granted  to  G.  Bates, 
H.  Hawkins,  and  Dolliff.  Five  new  societies  also  were  re- 
ceived into  fellowship,  organized  in  Eddington,  Belfast, 
Palmyra,  New  Sharon  and  Canton.  The  first  two  named 
were  reared,  as  the  journal  of  preceding  pages  shows,  by 
the  writer's  humble  labors. 

On  the  Sunday  following  I  extended  my  ministerial 
labor  to  another  new  village,  Anson,  pleasantly  situated 
on  Seven  Mile  Brook,  about  half  a  mile  from  its  junction 
with  the  Kennebec,  which  is  27  miles  above  Waterville. 

July.  —  Being  out  on  my  Eastern  circuit  the  first  half 
of  this  month,  and  in  Hope  on  the  Fourth,  I  officiated  as 
Chaplain  at  the  public  celebration  of  Independence  in  this 
town. 

July  13th.  —  I  took  a  tramp,  with  several  gentlemen, 
up  the  high  mountain  in  Camden,  which  stands  back  of 
the  estate  of  Mr.  Lemuel  Dillingham.     From  the  top  of 


144  liEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB^    D.D. 

this  mountain  it  was  pleasant  to  look  down  over  the  per- 
pendicular precipice  upon  the  flat  summit  of  the  lower 
mountain  on  the  south,  which  summit  contained  about  25 
acres,  level  and  well  wooded.  From  the  elevated  peak  we 
had  also  an  extensive  view  of  the  Bay,  and  a  portion  of 
the  Atlantic,  and  numerous  islands  south  and  east ;  and 
of  the  country  north  and  west.  Under  the  inspiration  of 
the  occasion,  I  pencilled  the  following  letter  in  rhyme  to 
my  wife,  who,  though  often  out  with  me  on  these  mission- 
ary tours,  was  now  at  home. 

TO  MY  WIFE. 

"When  on  the  tall  mountain  I  stand, 

By  the  mouth  of  Penobscot's  broad  Bay, 

And  yonder  white  sea-beaten  strand. 
With  the  ai-my  of  islands  survey;  — 

You'll  receive  the  assurance,  ray  dear, 
That  then  my  fond  thoughts  embrace  thee  : 

Oh,  that  my  companion  were  here. 
To  share  sublime  pleasures  with  me. 

But  though  we  are  distant  apart. 

Yet  you,  too,  have  pleasures,  at  home: 

And  this  moment  perhaps  your  fond  heart 

Sends  your  thoughts  for  your  husband  to  roam. 

How  unspeakably  happy  and  blest  ! 

Our  hearts  of  true  love  the  abode ;  — 
Pure  friendship  aye  warming  the  breast, 

And  praises  ascending  to  God. 

Oyi  the  Tliird  Sunday  in  this  month  (July),  after  my 
two  regular  services  in  the  Brick  Meeting  House  in  East 
Thomaston,  since  made  a  separate  town  by  the  name  of 
Rockland,  I  delivered  a  lecture  in  the  large  School  House 
at  Mill  River,  the  principal  village  in  Thomaston.     Rev. 


A.    D.    1824.  145 

Stephen  Lovell,  the  Methodist  preacher  who  had  officiated 
that  day  in  the  same  house,  was  present.  My  text  was 
Eph.  i.  13,  14 :  "  In  whom  ye  also  trusted,  after  that  ye 
heard  the  word  of  truth,  the  gospel  of  your  salvation :  in 
whom  also,  after  that  ye  believed,  ye  were  sealed  with  that 
Holy  Spirit  of  promise,  which  is  the  earnest  of  our  inheri- 
tance until  the  redemption  of  the  purchased  possession  unto 
the  praise  of  his  glory."  After  the  discourse  I  invited 
Rev.  Mr.  Lovell  to  offer  the  concluding  prayer.  He  said 
he  would  do  so  provided  he  were  permitted  to  offer  a  few 
remarks.  I  bade  him  speak  freely.  He  expressed  approval 
of  the  discourse  in  general,  but  said  he  differed  from  me  in 
regard  to  the  conclusion.  All  who  had  heard  him  could 
witness  that  he  had  been  as  explicit  as  I  had  been  in  main- 
taining the  universality  of  the  atonement,  involving  the 
idea  that  all  men  were  the  purchased  possession  of  Him 
"  who  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  all,"  and  "  tasted  death 
for  every  man."  But  the  atonement  did  not  save  men.  It 
only  placed  them  in  a  salvable  state.  It  restored  to  them 
the  opportunity  for  salvation  which  sin  had  forfeited. 

I  asked  him  what  he  understood  by  the  term  redemption 
in  the  text.  "  Oh,"  he  replied,  "  final  salvation,  to  be  sure." 
That  is  sufficient,  I  rejoined.  You  have  expressed  approval 
of  my  view  that  "  the  purchased  possession,"  for  whom 
Jesus  gave  himself  a  ransom,  are  all  men.  Now  you  agree 
that  the  term  redemption  here  means  final  salvation.  And 
the  apostle  gives  us  the  result,  the  final  salvation  of  the 
purchased  possession,  i.  e.  of  the  whole  family  of  our  great 
and  beneficent  Father.  The  seal  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  the 
true  believer  is  an  earnest  of  our  inheritance  through  the 
assurance  of  this  result. 

The  Rev.  gentleman  placed  his  hand  upon  his  forehead 
in  the  attitude  of  a  degree  of  confusion,  and  oflfered  prayer 
13 


146  nEV.    SYLVANUS    COBBy    D.D. 

as  I  had  invited  him.  I  pronounced  the  benediction  and 
hastened  away  as  I  had  twelve  miles  to  ride  that  evening, 
and  it  was  then  growing  dark. 

On  returning  home  from  this  circuit,  I  entered  the  follow- 
ing memorandum  in  my  journal :  — 

"This  was  a  pleasant  tour.  The  meetings  were  all  well 
attended,  and  profitable.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  conversation 
with  several  who  had  recently  been  redeemed  from  the  bondage 
of  partialism ;  and  it  was  gratefully  affecting  to  hear  them,  with 
their  hearts  ovei-flowing  with  love  and  gratitude,  testify  of  the 
w^onderful  salvation  and  glorious  rest  which  they  have  enjoyed, 
since,  by  the  grace  of  God,  they  became  believers  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  as  the  impartial  and  efiicient  Saviour  of  the  world." 

August,  —  Under  the  date  of  August,  I  find  in  my  Diary 
the  following  memorandum  :  — 

**  Second  Sunday.  — I  delivered  two  discourses  in  Capt.  Fow- 
ler's barn,  in  Unity.  The  audience  was  very  numerous,  said  to 
be  the  largest  that  was  ever  collected  in  that  region  on  any 
occasion.  The  whole  audience  appeared  very  serious  and  atten- 
tive. I  rode  five  miles  further  after  the  second  meeting,  and 
delivered  a  5  o'clock  lecture  in  a  School  House  near  Dr.  Burn- 
ham's.  After  the  lecture  I  rode  home,  twenty  miles;  and 
arrived  a  little  past  midnight." 

I  do  not  copy  this  memorandum  to  fill  space  here  with 
multiplied  demonstrations  of  my  industrj'-,  —  for  everybody 
who  knew  me  knew  that  I  was  always  at  work.  But  I 
seek  occasion  for  a  description  of  that  meeting,  which  was 
in  some  respects  singular.  Capt.  Fowler's  barn  was  new, 
capacious,  and  clean  throughout.  And  it  was  nearly  empty, 
not  having  been  finished  in  season  for  the  storage  of  all 
the  July  hay  crop.  There  were  a  plenty  of  boards,  and 
planks,  and  joists,  on  the  premises,  to  construct  seats 
throughout  the  broad  barn  floor,  the  lintels,  the  unoccupied 


A.    D.    1824.  147 

scaffold,  and  the  large  j^ard  in  front.  My  stand,  with 
chair  and  table,  was  near  the  open  "  great  doors."  Thence 
I  addressed  the  mass  of  people  filling  the  yard,  and  those 
crowding  the  area  of  the  broad  floor,  and  of  the  lintels  and 
the  scaffold  ;  and  the  scattering  individuals  who  sat  astride 
the  cross-beams.  These  were  interesting  occasions.  I 
felt  as  proud  to  be  preaching  the  gospel  to  that  immense 
concourse  of  people  in  and  around  that  magnificent  barx, 
as  ever  an  aspiring  clergyman  felt  on  addressing  a  fashion- 
able congregation  in  a  costly  and  elegantly  finished  church, 
from  a  mahogany,  gold-laced  and  tasselled  pulpit. 

THE   REVIVAL   IN  TURNER. 

On  the  Fifth  Sunday  in  this  montli  (August,  1824),  I 
preached  for  the  first  time  in  Turner  ;  and  the  meetings  of 
this  day  were  the  commencement  of  a  great  revival  in  that 
ancient  town.  This  town  was  favored  with  Universalist 
preaching  nearly  as  early  as  any  town  in  Maine.  The 
Fathers,  Barnes  and  Root,  preached  here  in  their  day  more 
or  less  ;  and  a  society  was  early  organized.  There  were  a 
few  noble  members  of  the  old  circle  of  believers  remaining  ; 
but  some  had  passed  away ;  others  had  become  incapaci- 
tated for  active  service  by  old  age  ;  and  but  little  had  been 
done  for  some  time.  But  this  day  it  seemed  as  if  the  Spirit 
of  God  moA^ed  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people,  especially  of 
the  younger  class.  Our  meeting  was  held  in  the  forenoon 
in  the  large  Bradford  School  House,  and  a  much  larger 
number  flocked  together  to  hear  the  word  than  could  sit 
and  stand  in  the  house.  The  discomfort  for  the  want  of 
room  in  the  house,  and  of  sitting  accommodations  out  in 
the  yard  was  so  great,  that,  obtaining  leave  to  occupy  the 
Congregational  Meeting  House  after  their  afternoon  serv- 


148  J?EV.    STLFAXUS     COBB,    D.D. 

ices,  our  afternoon  meeting  was  put  off  to  be  held  in  that 
house  at  4  o'clock.  The  large  Meeting  House  was  filled 
with  attentive  hearers.  Agreeably  to  an  engagement  made 
this  day  at  noon  time,  I  appointed  to  preach  again  in  the 
Bradford  School  House  on  the  first  Sunday  in  October  suc- 
ceeding. At  the  time  set  I  was  in  my  place  in  the  before 
described  School  House.  And  on  this  occasion  likewise, 
the  audience  was  so  large  that  the  female  attendants  nearly 
filled  the  house  ;  and  we  again  adjourned  to  the  Congrega- 
tionalist  Meeting  House  for  our  second  service. 

During  this  visit  I  entered  into  an  engagement  to  preach 
in  Turner  one  quarter  of  the  time,  apportioning  my  ap- 
pointments as  would  best  comport  with  my  other  engage- 
ments,—  sometimes  preaching  here  one  Sunday  in  each 
month ;  and  at  other  times  two  Sundays  in  succession,  and 
then  passing  over  the  succeeding  month.  This  engagement 
was  for  an  indefinite  term  of  time  ;  but  it  was  extended 
through  more  than  two  3^  ears.  Though  my  time  was  all 
engaged  before,  and  I  had  many  invitations  to  preach  which 
I  could  not  comply  with,  I  was  able  to  carry  out  this 
arrangement  with  Turner,  b}^  transferring  a  small  part  of 
my  Eastern  circuit  to  Br.  Wm.  A.  Drew,  who,  as  I  antici- 
pated, as  noted  on  page  140,  was  induced  to  remove  to 
Belfast  in  the  ensuing  January,  and  take  pastoral  charge 
of  our  society  there,  and  labor  as  he  might  have  opportu- 
nit}^  in  neighboring  towns.  Indeed  he  soon  entered  into 
regular  engagements  to  preacli  one  fourth  of  the  Sabbaths 
in  Camden,  and  the  other  fourth  in  East  Thomaston  (pow 
Kockland),  which  were  also  embraced  in  my  Eastern  cir- 
cuit ;  so  that  I  was  happily  relieved  also  of  the  care  of 
those  societies.  And  as  Br.  Drew  was  now  a  resident  in 
that  region,  he  could  convenientl}^  attend  to  transient 
lecturing  in  numbers  of  those  places  which  I,  by  a  zig-zag 


A.    D.    1824.  149 

course  of  travel,  had  embraced  in  my  route  through  that 
portion  of  the  Master's  vineyard. 

Furthermore,  a  worthy  young  man  by  the  name  of  Ras- 
kins, of  Wiscasset,  who  commenced  preaching  in  1822, 
but,  by  reason  of  youth  and  modest}^,  made  himself  but 
little  known  for  some  time,  had  now  become  strong  and 
energetic  through  study  and  experience,  and  was  at  this 
time  doing  good  and  regular  service  in  Castine,  Frankfort, 
Hampden  and  Bangor  ;  which  was  a  further  relief  to  me. 

The  interest  in  our  meetings  in  Turner  continued.  My 
Diary  sa3^s  of  the  meeting  on  the  3d  Sunday  of  February 
1825,  the  fifth  month  after  the  commencement  of  my  labors 
here :  — 

"As  there  were  nearly  two  hundred  people  who  could  not 
get  into  the  School  House  in  the  forenoon,  we  lengthened  our 
intermission  again,  till  the  Congregational  afternoon  meeting 
was  out,  and  held  our  second  service  in  their  Church.  There 
was  extensively  prevailing  an  earnest,  living  zeal  for  the  cause 
of  Christian  truth  in  its  purity  and  fulness.  Great  numbers  of 
young  men  and  women  were  intelligently  and  religiously  inter- 
ested. One  of  these,  Zenas  Thompson,  was  moved  in  spirit  to 
enter  upon  the  responsible  work  of  the  gospel  ministry,  and  in 
the  ensuing  spring  (1825),  commenced  his  preparatory  studies 
with  me  at  my  home  in  Waterville.  He  remained  with  me 
during  the  season  ;  and  in  the  meantime  commenced  the  work 
in  earnest,  —  and  has  continued  to  this  writing  (1866) ,  a  zealous, 
devoted,  and  useful  minister  of  the  everlasting  gosiDel." 

Though  the  crowds  attending  our  meetings  in  Turner 
continued  even  to  increase,  in  pleasant  weather  we  were 
able  to  get  along  with  tolerable  comfort  without  adjourning 
to  the  Congregational  Church,  having  preparations  made 
for  readily  constructing  seats  to  anj^  needed  extent  in  the 
front  School  House  yard,  where,  in  such  weather,  hundreds 
could  be  decently  accommodated.  Even  on  pleasant  win- 
13* 


150  r.EV.    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

ter  Sabbaths,  the  out-cloor  half  of  the  audience,  being  gen- 
tlemen with  thick  boots  and  overcoats,  sat  very  comfort- 
ably. In  those  cases  I  took  my  position  in  the  outer  door, 
whence  I  coiild  directly  address  both  divisions  of  my  audi- 
ence. "When  the  weather  was  so  unpleasant  as  to  render 
sitting  out-doors  seriously  uncomfortable,  of  course  the 
attendants  were  not  so  numerous,  and  all  could  gain  ingress 
into  the  house. 

In  the  spring  of  1825,  into  which  year  I  have  now  been 
reaching  over  with  my  memoranda  of  meetings  in  Turner 
as  far  as  February^  the  society  in  this  town  commenced 
preparations  for  the  erection  of  a  large  Meeting  House  on 
an  eligible  site  presented  by  Br.  Asa  Bradford,  near  his 
dwelling  house.  The  work  was  conducted  economically 
by  a  small  gang  of  workmen,  including  some  members  of 
the  society  who  turned  their  hands  to  this  business  when 
they  could  be  spared  from  their  usual  employments  ;  so 
that  the  house  with  all  its  appurtenances  was  not  completed 
for  the  dedication,  to  the  last  touch  of  varnish  and  the  last 
stitch  of  upholstery,  and  the  mounting  upon  the  spire  of 
the  great  image  of  the  "  angel  fljang  through  the  midst  of 
heaven,"  until  the  passing  of  about  two  years.  But  we 
usually  occupied  the  house  with  our  monthly  meetings, 
after  the  boarding,  shingling  and  clap-boarding  of  the  out- 
side. The  workmen,  on  the  Saturday  evenings  before  the 
meetings,  were  in  the  habit  of  leaving  the  floor  of  the  house 
in  a  condition  to  accommodate  the  audience. 


INTO   MY  NEW   HOUSE. 

There  is  one  important  event  in  my  domestic  affairs, 
which,  that  I  might  carry  through  without  interruption  the 
journal  of  the  "  Revival  in  Turaer,"  I  omitted  to  record 


A.   D.    1824.  151 

in  its  due  order  of  time.  On  the  25tn  of  November  in  this 
year  (1824),  we  removed  from  our  little  gi*een  hired  house 
near  the  head  of  Tyconic  Falls,  into  our  new  house  on  High 
Street.  This  was  an  agreeable  exchange.  I  always  had  a 
penchant  for  building,  and  a  strong  natural  taste  for  living 
in  a  house  of  my  own.  Besides  this  in  Waterville,  I  built 
a  house  in  Waltham,  and  this  in  which  I  now  live  in  East 
Boston.  These  are  the  only  places  in  which  I  have  made 
settled  homes,  except  Maiden,  where  we  must  needs  occupy 
the  old  Parsonage. 

IMPORTANCE     OF    A    RULE    OF    WORK,    WITH 
PUNCTUALITY  AND   PERSEVERANCE. 

December.  —  For  the  first  Sunday,  which  was  the  5th 
day,  of  this  month,  I  had  an  appointment  in  Anson,  which 
is  nearly  thirty  miles  from  Waterville,  in  a  northerly  direc- 
tion. Saturda}^,  the  4th,  was  ushered  in  with  a  severe 
northeast  rain-storm,  with  appearances  indicative  of  its 
continuance  through  the  day  at  least.  How  should  I  get 
to  my  appointment  ?  The  road  was  too  muddy  for  the  use 
of  my  chaise  ;  and  I  must  either  face  that  cold  December 
northeast  rain-storm  horseback,  my  horse  wallowing 
through  the  deep  mud,  or  disappoint  my  friends  in  Anson. 
What  should  I  do?  At  11  o'clock  a.  m.  I  bridled  and  sad- 
dled my  horse,  hitched  him  in  the  shed  which  connected 
my  house  and  barn,  and  went  in,  and  buttoned  up  my  over- 
coat for  the  start.  But  when  I  returned  to  the  shed,  the 
storm  had  increased  in  fury,  and  I  had  misgivings.  And 
my  weakness  pleaded  against  my  perseverance,  that  the 
journey  would  be  too  severe,  and  perhaps  the  people  would 
not  expect  me  to  come  through  such  a  storm,  or  the  storm 
might  continue  through  the  Sabbath  and  prevent  the  meet- 


152  IlEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

ing.  But  I  recalled  my  fixed  rule,  which  was  that  I  would 
meet  all  my  engagements  if  possible,  and  that  I  would  not 
regard  the  work  impossible  until  my  determined  efibrts 
should  fail.  Then  I  forthwith  sprang  into  the  saddle, 
opened  and  braced  under  my  right  arm  my  sturdy  umbrella, 
and  with  my  left  hand  grasped  the  reins,  and  beat  my  way 
merrily  along.  It  was  not  until  near  night  that  I  accom- 
plished the  first  fifteen  miles,  to  Norridgewock,  w^here  I 
called  on  my  old  friend  Capt.  Bodfish,  warmed  myself  and 
took  supper.  Then,  as  there  was  a  faint  light  from  the 
moon  behind  the  clouds,  I  mounted  dobbin  again,  and  rode 
on.  When  I  had  ridden  about  five  miles,  the  storm  had 
become  sleety,  and  my  umbrella  soon  became  so  coated 
with  ice,  that  I  could  neither  bear  it  up  with  my  arm,  nor 
shut  it  down.  I  rode  up  to  a  house,  and  called  one  of  the 
inmates  to  the  door,  who  took  it  in  and  thawed  it  by  the 
fire,  when  I  could  clasp  it  in  my  hand.  Reaching  Weston's 
Ferry  by  which  the  Kennebec  was  to  be  crossed  to  Anson, 
ten  miles  above  Norridgewock,  I  was  obliged  to  put  up 
with  the  accommodating  ferry-man  for  the  night,  because 
the  run  of  ice  in  the  river  rendered  it  impracticable  for  him 
to  cross  that  evening. 

Sunday  morning,  though  the  boatman  could  not  navigate 
his  fei-ry  across  the  river,  he  proposed  to  keep  my  horse  in 
his  stable  to  my  return,  and  set  me  over  by  a  canoe.  After 
crossing  I  walked  a  mile  and  a  half,  to  Mr.  Joseph  Sav- 
age's, who  kindly  gave  me  breakfast,  and  a  ride  the  other 
mile  into  Anson  Village,  where  my  home  was  with  James 
Collins,  Esq.  The  weather  soon  became  fair  and  mild ;  a 
large  concourse  of  people  assembled,  some  riding  ten  miles 
and  more  ;  and  I  realized  truly  the  value  of  a  fixed  rule  of 
work,  and  a  will  to  honor  it.  What  a  serious  disappoint- 
ment, and  loss  of  good,  would  have  been  the  consequence, 


A.    D.    1825.  153 

if  I  had  yielded  to  the  pleadings  of  my  weakness  to  dodge 
my  responsibility. 

A.  D.  1825. 

January.  —  The  bare  recital,  over  and  over,  of  the  times 
and  places  of  my  appointments  on  my  customary  and  rep- 
etitious missionary  circuits,  would  be  of  no  interest  to  my 
readers.  But  a  man's  industry  is  an  important  feature  of 
his  character ;  and  his  performance  of  a  vast  amount  of 
labor  belongs  to  his  history.  Now  it  is  impossible,  by  an 
abstract  description,  to  give  any  just  view  of  the  continuity 
and  severity  of  my  labors.  Such  a  view  can  only  be  im- 
parted by  a  simple  matter-of-fact  memorandum  of  the  labors 
as  they  transpired,  which  shall  conduct  the  reader's  mind 
along  as  an  attendant  and  a  witness.  "With  this  under- 
standing I  will  here,  at  the  risk  of  incurring  the  charge  of 
wearisome  details,  copy  from  my  Diary  the  following  jour- 
nal of  another  of  my  Eastern  tours.  And  this  journal  will 
again,  as  that  copied  upon  pages  130-133,  exhibit  some- 
what of  the  zeal,  enterprise  and  endurance  of  Mrs.  Cobb. 
She  often  accompanied  me  also  on  my  routes  in  more  pleas- 
ant seasons  of  the  year  ;  but  it  happens  that  I  copy  here, 
as  in  the  other  case  referred  to,  a  memorandum  which  pre- 
sents her  with  me  on  a  severe  winter  tour. 

The  Journal  of  the  tour  commences  with  Dec.  30th, 
thus : — 

*'  Started,  Mrs.  Cobb  in  company,  to  go  eastward.  Dined  at 
Mr.  Dyer's,  in  Sidney.  We  went  on  and  took  supper  at  father 
Locke's,  in  Hallowell.  Then  proceeded  to  Gardiner,  where  I 
preached  in  the  evening. 

"  3l5^.  —  I  had  an  appointment  for  this  evening  in  Wiscasset ; 
but  finding  that  the  going  was  such  that  I  could  not  get  along  in 
that  direction  with  my  sleigh,  I  went  on  the  direct  road  to 


154  nEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

Union,  to  meet  my  forthcoming  Sunday's  appointment.  Put  up 
at  night  with  Mr.  McKurdie,  in  Washington. 

*' January,  1825.  1st.  —  Went  to  Ca2)t.  N.  Bachelor's,  in 
Union. 

*' First  Sunday.  —  An  uncommonly  boisterous  and  driving 
snow-storm.  We  did  not  assemble  at  the  Church  to-day ;  but 
by  request  I  left  an  appointment  for  a  meeting  the  next  Friday 
evening,  when  I  should  be  on  the  way  from  my  appointments  in 
Bristol  and  vicinity,  to  meet  my  next  Sunday's  engagement  in 
Hope. 

*'  3c?.  —  We  went  to  Bristol.  It  was  uncomfortable  riding,  as 
the  weather  was  cold,  and  the  road  much  drifted,  and  in  some 
places  not  broken  out. 

*'4/^. — Held  meeting  in  the  new  Meeting  House  at  Broad 
Cove.  We  tarried  in  Bristol  until  the  afternoon  of  Thursday, 
the  6th  inst.  Spent  much  of  the  time  at  Commodore  Samuel 
Tucker's ;  visited  also  at  Mr.  Turner's,  Mr.  Palmer's,  and  Mr. 
McLean's. 

*' 6<A.  —  Spent  the  night  at  widow  Thompson's  in  Waldobor- 
ough. 

"  1th. — Fulfilled  my  appointment  for  an  evening  discourse  in 
Union. 

"  Second  Sunday.  —  I  preached  in  Hope.  Visited  in  this  town 
at  Esq.  Hobbs',  Esq.  Sweetland's,  Dr.  Dakin's,  and  Capt. 
Crane's. 

'*  11^^.  —  I  preached  a  lecture  in  a  School  House  near  George 
Hall's.  Spent  the  night  at  Mr.  Hall's.  He  is  very  zealously 
engaged  in  the  cause  of  gospel  truth.  He  knows  how  to  prize 
the  blessed  peace  of  the  gospel,  having  been  lately  converted 
from  Calvinism. 

*'  12th. — We  went  to  Thomaston,  and  dined  with  Maj.  Spear. 
After  dinner  we  went,  in  company  with  Maj.  Spear  and  wife, 
and  visited  the  Maine  State  Prison.  It  contained  about  fifty 
prisoners.  ******!  delivered  an  evening  lecture  in  the 
School  House  near  Maj,  Spear's. 

"  13^7i.  —  We  rode  to  Camden,  and  called  at  Dr.  Heus'.  But 
the  Doctor  and  his  wife  were  away  from  home ;  and  we  went  to 
Br.  N.  Dillingham's. 

*'15^A. — We  went  to  Duck-Trap,  Lincolnville,  and  put  up 


A.    D.    1825.  155 

with  Esq.  Whitney,  with  whose  amiable  family,  we  tarried  over 
this  (Saturday)  night. 

"  Tliird  Sunday,  January. — I  preached  in  Lincolnville  Meet- 
ing House.     After  meeting  we  rode  to  Searsmont. 

"■Ylth. — Returned  as  far  as  Albion,  where  I  preached  an 
evening  lecture. 

*'18^A.  —  Returned  home.  During  our  absence  we  left  our 
house  and  little  boy  in  the  care  of  my  matronly  sister,  Susan." 

This  memorandum  of  a  single  tour  I  copy  here,  as  I 
have  said,  as  a  sample  of  my  continuous  habit.  Wherever 
I  was,  there  was  work  for  me  to  do ;  and  a  disposition, 
and,  thanks  be  to  God,  generally  physical  strength  to  do  it. 
Whenever  I  went  abroad  to  spend  a  Sabbath,  all  the  way 
out  and  in  there  were  week  evening  lectures.  When  I 
spent  two  or  more  Sabbaths  away  on  the  same  tour,  the 
week  evenings  between  those  Sabbaths  were  occupied  with 
lectures,  in  circles  of  towns  and  neighborhoods  marked  out 
in  the  vicinities  of  the  Sabbath  appointments.  And  even 
on  the  weeks  of  my  Sunda^^  labors  at  home,  evening  lec- 
tures, weddings,  and  funerals  furnished  me  with  much 
employment  in  the  surrounding  localities. 


.     VISITING  THE   SICK. 

All  ministering  servants  of  Jesus  have  more  or  less 
responsible  service  to  perform  in  the  way  of  kind  attentions 
to  the  sick  and  suffering.  But  so  great  was  the  length  and 
breadth  of  my  field  of  ministerial  labor,  that  the  share  of  this 
service  devolving  upon  me  was  by  no  means  inconsiderable. 
The  following  extract  from  my  Diary  will  afford  an  example. 
It  is  the  closing  section  of  my  journal  of  services  in  Turner 
on  the  third  Sunday  in  April  of  the  current  year  (1825)  :  — 

"  After  meeting  I  called,  by  his  request,  on  Mr.  Jones,  who  is 


156  JtEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

about  88  years  of  ago,  and  was  expecting  soon  to  pass  away 
from  the  earthly  life.  I  prayed  with  him ;  and  when  I  had  con- 
cluded my  prayer,  the  old  gentleman,  in  feeble  but  devotional 
accents,  exclaimed,  'I  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  trust  in 
him.  I  love  the  Lord  God,  because  he  hath  heard  my  voice  and 
my  supplications.  Because  he  hath  inclined  his  ear  unto  me, 
therefore  will  I  call  upon  him  as  long  as  I  live.'"     (Ps.  cxvi.) 

"  I  then  called  on  an  aged  and  infirm  gentleman  by  the  name 
of  Bryant,  and,  by  his  request,  prayed  with  him.  A  Miss  Hood, 
also,  an  amiable  young  woman  18  years  of  age,  sent  to  meeting 
by  her  father  a  request  that  I  should  call  on  her.  I  found  her 
pining  away  in  distress.  The  disease  originated  in  a  slight  hurt 
of  the  ankle.  Several  of  the  5'Oung  people  of  the  neighborhood 
came  in  to  hear  our  conversation,  and  were  deeply  affected  by 
it.  Miss  Hood  expressed  but  little  hope  of  recovery ;  but  her 
mind  was  calm  and  placid  in  the  serene  peace  of  gospel  faith. 
She  spoke  with  good  understanding,  and  expressed  the  happy 
assurance  that,  whether  in  health  or  in  sickness,  in  life  or  in 
death,  in  time  or  in  eternity,  she  was  in  the  hands  of  a  kind 
Father  and  Friend,  who  would  never  fail  to  do  that  for  her  which 
should  prove  to  be  best." 


ANOTHER   DEBUT. 

My  Diary  has  it :  — 

''May  dth,  1825. — Kode  from  Searsmont  to  Palermo,  and  met 
my  appointment  in  the  Centre  School  House  in  that  town  for  a 
lecture  at  4  o'clock  p.  m.  No  Universalist  ever  preached  in  that 
town  before.  Therefore,  as  might  be  expected,  the  people  gen- 
erally appeared  as  if  they  had  come  out  to  hear  some  new  and 
strange  thing.  As  my  custom  is  on  such  occasions,  while  I 
endeavored  to  commend  myself  to  every  man's  conscience  in  the 
sight  of  God,  I  did  not  preach  myself,  '  but  Christ  Jesus  the 
Lord."  *  That  is,  I  did  not  devote  my  entire  discourse  to  an 
exhibition  of  the  fact  that  /,  I  was  in  favor  of  good  morality.  I 
had  read  a  series  of  articles  in  a  religious  journal,  addressed  by 

*  2  Cor.  iv.  5. 


A.    D.    1825.  157 

an  aged  Universalist  or  'Restorationist'  clergyman  *  To  young 
Universalist  Preachers ; '  recommending  that,  on  preaching  for 
the  first  time  in  a  community  unacquainted  with  Universalism, 
they  should  withhold  our  distinctive  doctrines,  and  give  a  purely 
moral  discourse.  This  course,  it  was  urged,  would  overcome 
the  prejudice  of  the  people,  and  show  them  that  Universalists 
hold  to  virtuous  living.  But  in  my  judgment  the  effect  of  this 
non-committal  policy  would  be  the  reverse  of  what  that  writer 
opined.  '  Ah,'  the  opposition  would  sneeringly  exclaim,  '  that 
man  knew  better  than  to  expose  his  distinctive  doctrines  here. 
He  only  preached  what  all  sects  of  Christians,  Infidels,  Jews 
and  Heathen  agree  in.  For  they  all  profess  to  be  in  favor 
of  good  morality,  according  to  their  respective  moral  stand- 
ards.' 

"  But  I  ever  regarded  it  as  my  duty  as  a  minister  of  the  gos- 
pel, to  show  the  people  who  were  unenlightened  on  the  subject, 
not  merely  that  /  Avas  in  favor  of  virtuous  living,  but  that  the 
gospel,  of  which  I  was  a  minister,  was  the  source  and  fountain 
of  the  purest  morality.  To  do  this,  I  must  of  course  preach  the 
gospel,  in  its  essential  principles  of  faith,  that  I  might  logically 
deduce  therefrom  its  legitimate  practical  graces.  In  this  way 
something  is  done  in  the  work  of  commending  to  the  people  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  both  as  a  biblical  and  philosophical 
faith,  and  a  practical  moral  force. 

"Note.  This  introductory  visit  at  Palermo,  on  the  return 
from  my  Eastern  tour,  required  me  to  make  quite  an  elbow 
northward  from  my  usual  road." 


THE   SECOND-BORN. 

June  1  Itli.  —  Our  second  son  was  born,  whom,  on  the  first 
Sunday  in  June,  1829,  we  publicly  dedicated  in  regular 
form,  by  the  name  Samuel  Tucker,  after  the  venerable 
Revolutionary  patriot,  Commodore  Samuel  Tucker,  whose 
house  had  always  been  our  home  whenever  we  passed  by 
way  of  Bristol,  his  place  of  residence,  on  our  Eastern 
tours. 


158  REV.    STLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

The  Eastern  Association  was  held  in  "WajTie,  the  Gth  and 
7th  of  July,  about  two  weeks  later  than  the  usual  time  of 
its  annual  meetings.  Sermons  were  preached  by  Brs.  Wm. 
A.  Drew,  DoUoff,  S.  Cobb,  Massena  B.  Ballou  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  R.  Streeter.  Brs.  Bates,  DoUoflf  and  Haw- 
kins received  ordination,  after  Br.  Streeter's  sermon.  The 
Ordination  Prayer  devolved  upon  me ;  the  Charge  upon 
Br.  Wm.  Frost ;  and  the  Right  Hand  of  Fellowship  upon 
Br.  A.  Dinsmore. 

I  had  the  rare  privilege  of  meeting  my  'S'^nerable  father  at 
this  Association,  and  of  having  his  company  to  my  home, 
and  a  good  visit  there. 

My  discourse  on  this  occasion  was  delivered  on  the  fore- 
noon of  the  second  da}^,  Thursday.  The  text  was  Acts 
xvii.  30,  31.  The  view  which  I  took  of  the  judgment  of 
Christ,  as  being,  in  its  highest  sense,  his  spiritual  reign, 
and,  in  its  more  restricted  application,  a  co-operative  branch 
of  his  reign,  —  was  new  to  the  people,  and  drew  forth  their 
most  earnest  and  interested  attention.  At  noon,  on  return- 
ing to  the  Hall  of  the  Council  for  a  public  collation,  there 
was  a  general  desire  expressed  by  the  ministers  and  dele- 
gates, that  the  sermon  should  be  published  in  pamphlet 
form ;  and  a  subscription  was  started  and  extensively 
signed  for  copies  of  the  pamphlet.  I  yielded,  and  procured 
its  publication  as  requested. 


GENERAL  CONVENTION  AT  HARTLAND. 

September.  —  This  month  1  attended  the  General  Con- 
vention of  Universalists  in  Hartland,  Vt.     I  journeyed  to 
and  from  with  my  own  team,  and  took  my  student,  Br 
Zenas  Thompson,  in  company  with  me. 


A.   D.    1825.  159 

"We  left  home  on  the  10th,  and  took  Le^wiston  on  our 
route,  where  I  preached  on  Sunday,  the  11th.  Monday, 
the  12th,  we  went  to  my  father's  in  Norway.  Tuesday, 
the  13th,  through  Waterford,  Lovell,  and  Sweden,  to  Frye- 
burg,  and  put  up  at  Mrs.  Osgood's  Inn,  whose  sign  bore 
date,  1762.  Wednesday,  the  14th,  we  proceeded  on  through 
Conway,  N.  H.,  Eaton,  Tamworth,  Sandwich,  and  Centre 
Harbor  Village,  to  Holderness.  Here  we  tarried  till  the 
morning  of  Friday,  the  16th,  I  having  been  invited  to  preach 
a  lecture  in  the  place  Thursday  evening.  Maj.  Blair  was 
foremost  in  the  arrangements  for  this  lecture. 

IQth. — Leaving  Holderness  in  the  morning,  we  forded 
the  Merrimac  river,  and  passed  through  Plymouth,  Hebron, 
Groton,  Dorchester,  Canaan  and  North  Enfield,  to  Leb- 
anon, —  where  we  called  upon  our  Rev.  Br.  Lemuel  Willis, 
who  was  Pastor  of  the  Universalist  society  in  this  place.  I 
accepted  Br.  Willis'  earnest  invitation  to  abide  with  him 
until  Monday,  and  preach  in  his  desk  on  the  Sabbath. 

19t7i,  Monday,  —  Leaving  Lebanon,  we  crossed  the  Con- 
necticut river  by  Lyman's  Bridge  ;  forded  White  river  in 
Vermont,  and  spent  the  night  with  Elder  Elias  Cobb,  a 
distant  relative  of  mine,  a  "  Christian  "  preacher,  in  Wood- 
stock. 

20t7i.  —  We  reached  Hartland,  and  were  on  hand  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  services  of  the  "  General  Convention  of 
Universalists "  on  the  two  succeeding  days,  Wednesday 
and  Thursday,  the  21st  and  22d.  Of  the  services  of  the 
Convention  were  sermons,  preached  by  Brs.  Sylvanus 
Cobb,  Hosea  Ballon,  Wm.  Morse,  Sebastian  Streeter,  and 
Paul  Dean.  Brs.  Wm.  Bell  and  Massena  B.  Ballon, 
received  ordination,  in  the  administration  of  which  it 
devolved  upon  me  to  deliver  the  Right  Hand  of  Fellow- 
ship. 


160  REV.     SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

On  my  return  from  Hartlancl  to  my  home  in  Waterville, 
I  went  by  way  of  Boston,  and,  on  Suncla}^  the  25th, 
preached  for  Br.  Paul  Dean  in  his  Church  on  Bulfinch 
Street,  Boston. 

Leaving  Boston  on  Monday  the  26th,  we  reached  Cat- 
hance  Landing,  in  Bowdoinham,  Me.,  in  the  forenoon  of 
Thursda}^,  the  29th.  Here  I  was  enticed  to  my  old  habit 
of  lecturing  by  the  way.  Two  prominent  citizens  of  the 
place,  Mr.  Henry  Sampson,  and  Dr.  Tinker,  who  knew  me 
by  reputation,  learning  that  I  was  bating  my  horse  at  the 
Hotel  of  their  Village,  called  upon  me  there,  and  urgently 
requested  that  I  should  give  them  a  lecture  in  the  Village 
Meeting  House  at  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  that  day. 
I  complied  with  the  request ;  and  notice  was  spread  quickly 
over  the  place.  To  the  great  surprise  of  myself  and  the 
projectors  of  the  meeting,  the  house  was  filled  at  the  ap- 
pointed hour,  and  the  concourse  of  hastily  gathered  citizens 
were  eager  listeners.  While  the  third  hymn  was  being 
sung,  Brs.  Sampson  and  Tinker  conferred  together,  and 
with  a  few  others,  and  one  of  them  came  up  into  the  desk, 
and  requested  me  to  appoint  to  preach  there  again  in  the 
evening,  by  candle-light.  I  complied,  of  course,  and  we 
had  an  increased  audience  in  the  evening.  This  was  the 
commencement  of  the  Universalist  ministry  in  Bowdoin- 
ham. 

$OtJi.  —  After  an  absence  of  three  weeks,  I  found  all  well 
at  home. 

For  the  remaining  months  of  this  year,  my  Diary  exhibits 
only  my  regular  pastoral  labors  in  Waterville,  and  my 
usual  travels  and  ministrations  on  my  broad  repetitious 
tours  East,  West,  North,  and  South.  It  closes  up  its  rec- 
ords of  the  5^ear,  Dec.  31st,  with  the  following  cheerful 
valedictory :  — 


A.    D.    1826.  161 

"Another  year  has  passed,  during  the  whole  of  which  I  and 
my  family  have  been  favored  with  constant  health,  peace  and 
prosperity.  I  have  been  diligently  employed  in  the  work  of  the 
gospel  ministry,  and  trust  that,  through  the  favor  of  Heaven,  my 
labors  have  been  productive  of  much  good.  How  rapid  and 
stately  is  the  march  of  truth.  God  says,  '  Let  there  be  light,' 
and  there  is  light.  I  see  the  human  mind  rising  out  of  chaos 
into  order ;  the  Sun  of  Heaven  shining ;  the  rain  of  Heaven  fall- 
ing!—  I  hear  the  soft  notes  of  the  birds  of  Paradise,  breathe  the 
fragrance  of  the  flowers  of  Eden,  and  eat  the  rich  clusters  from 
the  mountains  of  Zion.  We  wish  not  to  go  back.  We  will 
cheerfully  step  forward  into  another  year,  trusting  in  God ;  and 
we  will  tread  the  path  of  wisdom  for  glories  ahead.  Arm  of 
God  !  be  our  Guide  and  Protector  evermore." 


A.   D.    1826. 

Jamiary.  —  The  journal  of  this  opening  month  of  another 
year  exhibits  me  again  indefatigably  evangelizing  in  my 
great  Eastern  circuit.  There  was  the  labor  of  preaching  a 
Sunday  in  Union ;  a  Sunday  in  Hope ;  a  funeral  service, 
including  a  sermon,  in  Union  ;  a  lecture  in  Bristol ;  a  lec- 
ture in  Thomaston ;  a  lecture  in  Camden ;  and  a  Sunday 
in  Lincolnville. 

On  the  evening  of  the  19th  of  this  month  I  delivered  an 
Address  in  the  Masonic  Hall  in  Waterville,  on  occasion  of 
the  public  Installation  of  the  officers  of  the  Waterville 
Lodge  of  Free  Masons.  The  next  morning  I  received  the 
following  note :  — 

To  THE  Kev.  Sylvanus  Cobb: 

Sir, — The  undersigned,  committee  of  arrangements  at  the 
Installation  of  the  Officers  of  Waterville  Lodge  for  the  current 
year,  would  express  their  unfeigned  thanks,  for  your  truly  Ma- 
il* 


1G2  REV.    SYLVANUS     CODD^    D.D. 

sonic  Address,  and  request  that  the  same  may  be  published,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  craft,  and  others. 

ALPHEUS  LYON. 

R.  M.  DORR. 

NATH'L  GILIVIAN. 

In  compliance  with  this  request  I  committed  the  produc- 
tion to  print  in  pamphlet  form.  I  had  committed  to  print 
several  communications,  some  of  them  controversial,  in 
public  religious  journals  :  but  this  was  my  second  publica- 
tion in  book  or  pamphlet  form. 


FEBRUARY. 

THE  BOWDOINHAM  AWAKENING. 

For  an  account  of  my  unpremeditated  ministerial  debut 
in  Bowdoinham,  and  the  marked  attention  which  it  elicited, 
see  p.  160.  I  lectured  there  again  on  my  way  upon  the 
Eastern  circuit,  on  the  evening  of  Dec.  27th,  three  months 
from  the  first  visit,  and  found  that  a  goodly  number 
had  "  received  the  word  with  all  readiness  of  mind,  and 
searched  the  Scriptures  daily,  whether  these  things  were 
so."  And  now  I  find  another  visit  at  this  place,  in  my 
original  record,  memorandumized  thus  :  — 

''Feb.  15th.  —  Went  to  Cathance  Landing  (Bowdoinham),  to 
meet  my  evening  appointment  there.  Put  up  with  Br.  Henry 
Sampson.  As  the  weather  was  very  cold,  and  there  was  no 
stove  in  the  Meeting  House,  we  concluded  to  hold  the  meeting 
in  the  School  House.  But  the  concourse  of  people  that  gathered 
in  and  around  the  School  House  was  so  numerous,  that  we  found 
it  necessary  to  adjourn  to  the  Church.  This  is  the  third  time 
that  I  have  visited  this  people,  or  that  they  have  ever  been  vis- 
ited by  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  of  impartial  grace.  The  word 
preached  has  taken  good  efi'ect,  and  the  number  of  believers, 
especially  of  earnest  inquirers,  has  wonderfully  increased.    They 


A.    D.    1826.  163 

would  like  now  to  obtain  Sabbath  preaching  one  fourth  of  the 
time." 

MARCH. 

THE  CHALLENGE  IN  BATH,  AND  ITS  ACCEPT- 
ANCE. 

On  the  11th  of  this  month  I  went  out  on  my  eastern  cir- 
cuit, going  directly  to  Hope  to  meet  my  appointment  there 
the  next  day,  which  was  Sunday,  and  taking  in  Bath  on  my 
return  route.  On  the  evening  before  I  left  home,  I  received 
a  letter  from  Br.  Swazey,  of  Bath,  informing  me  that  it 
had  been  reported  there,  that  I  was  requested  in  Wiscasset 
to  preach  from  Isa.  xxviii.  14,  15,  and  that  I  refused : 
that  considerable  handle  had  been  made  of  the  circumstance 
in  Bath  :  and  that  Dea.  J.  B.  Swanton,  Baptist,  had  asserted 
that  no  Universalist  would  venture  an  attempt  to  speak  on 
that  text,  —  and  pledged  himself  that  if  I  would  preach 
upon  it  in  Bath,  he  would  attend  and  hear  me.  I  answered 
Br.  Swazej^  by  return  mail,  that  I  would  deliver  a  discourse 
in  Bath  upon  the  proposed  passage  of  Scripture  on  my 
way  homeward  from  a  tour  eastward  upon  which  I  was 
preparing  to  go  out.  And  as  I  was  to  preach  in  Wiscas- 
set, which  is  near  Bath,  on  the  evening  of  the  14th,  I 
named  the  17th  as  the  time  for  the  challenged  expository 
lecture. 

11th.  —  I  was  on  hand  in  due  time  ;  and  the  meeting  was 
held  in  Concert  Hall,  which  was  densely  crowded.  Dea. 
Swanton  was  present  according  to  agreement,  and  occupied 
a  front  seat.  The  discourse  was  more  than  an  hour  in 
length,  and  received  throughout  the  earnest  and  noiseless 
attention  of  the  large  and  crowded  audience.  The  occa- 
sion was  one  of  a  good  degree  of  interest,  and  the  subject 


164  BEF.    SYLVANUS     COBB^   D.D. 

of  much  subsequent  conversation.  But  the  worthy  Deacon 
who  challenged  me  never  offered,  as  my  friends)  could 
learn,  a  disrespectful  or  dissentient  remark. 

My  Bath  friends  must  needs  have  this  discourse  printed 
in  pamphlet  form  ;  and  they  subscribed  for  a  large  number 
of  copies.     Of  course  I  gratified  them. 

THE  DEPARTURE  OF  MY  FATHER. 

May  12tJi,  Friday.  —  This  evening  I  received  a  letter 
from  Dr.  Danforth,  of  Norwaj^,  informing  me  of  the  death 
of  my  father.  He  died  at  about  9  o'clock  on  Tuesday 
evening,  the  9th  inst.,  and  was  to  be  buried  on  Friday, 
this  very  day,  in  the  afternoon.  The  distance  being  fifty 
miles,  I  could  not  attend  the  funeral.  He  endured  several 
weeks  of  distressing  sickness  with  Christian  fortitude  and 
resignation :  and  in  the  closing  hour  expressed  the  fullest 
confidence  that  he  was  going  to  his  heavenly  home ;  where, 
in  due  time,  he  should  meet  all  the  great  Father's  family  in 
a  redeemed  and  perfected  state.  His  disease  was  the 
Asthma,  and  Angina  Pectoris.     His  age  was  67. 

He  was  a  kind  and  provident  father  ;  and  great  love  and 
affection  subsisted  between  him  and  all  the  members  of 
his  family.  Industry,  prudence,  economy,  and  integrit}^, 
characterized  his  life.  The  lamp  of  wisdom  led  his  steps 
in  paths  of  faith,  virtue  and  peace. 

The  following  brief  obituary  notice,  which  was  published 
at  the  time  in  the  County  paper,  and  was  copied  into  the 
"Christian  Intelligencer,"  is  multum  in parvo :  — 

"  In  Norway,  Mr.  Ebenezer  Cobb,  aged  67.  He  was  an  up- 
right Christian  Universalist,  and  perfectly  resigned  to  God  dur- 
ing a  painful  illness.  Many  opposers  of  his  doctrine  who  visited 
him,  acknowledge  that  he  was  a  good  and  happy  man." 


A.    D.    1826.  165 

MY  FIRST   CHURCH. 

May  2StJi,  Sunday. — I  preached  in  the  Waterville  Village 
Meeting  House.  During  the  intermission  several  brothers 
and  sisters  met  at  my  house,  and  we  organized  ourselves 
into  a  church,  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  "  TJie  Univer- 
salist  Church  in  Waterville"  As  this  was  the  first  church 
that  I  ever  organized,  and  the  first  Universalist  church,  as 
a  church  of  communicants  distinctively,  ever  organized  in 
the  State  of  Maine,  I  will  here  record  the  names  of  its 
original  members,  this  day  banding  themselves  together  in 
this  interesting  relation.  Sylvanus  Cobb,  Eunice  Hale 
Cobb,  Nathan  Sawtell,  Sarah  Ingalls  Sawtell,  Elizabeth 
Blackwell,  Hamden  Keith,  Levi  Barrett,  Rebecca  Barrett, 
Abel  Wheeler,  Thankful  Wheeler,  Sumner  A.  Wheeler, 
Cyrenus  C.  Wheeler,  Erastus  O.  Wheeler,  Mary  M.  Wheel- 
er, Mary  Eaton,  Elizabeth  McFarland,  Benj.  Courson. 

Capt.  Nathan  Sawtell  was  elected  First  Deacon  of  the 
church.  Subsequently  Hamden  Keith,  Esq.,  was  elected 
Second  Deacon. 

June  loth.  —  Tliis  day  I  visited  the  homestead  the  first 
time  since  the  departure  of  my  father  a  month  before.  I 
entered  the  room  where  my  father  usually  sat  during  the 
leisure  portions  of  the  day, — but  he  was  not  there.  My 
mother  said,  "  You  will  find  your  father  here  no  more."  Oh, 
the  solemn  force  of  these  words  —  though  I  knew  the  fact 
before.  —  "  He  died  happy,"  she  continued  ;  "  but  he  lotted 
much  on  seeing  you  before  he  died.  Manj^  times  a  day,  in 
some  of  his  last  days,  when  he  aAvoke  from  a  drowse,  he 
would  ask,  '  Has  not  Sjdvanus  come?  I  thought  I  saw  him 
coming.  I  thought  I  heard  his  voice.'  "  I  had  before  ex- 
perienced much  regret  that  I  had  not  the  privilege  of  see- 
ing my  father,  to  bless  him  with  the  tribute  of  filial  afiec- 


IGG  EEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

tion  and  love,  and  receive  his  parting  benediction,  in  Lis 
last  sickness.  But  now  my  regret  was  really  painful.  But 
I  was  always  pressed  with  public  duties  ;  and  I  did  not 
expect  his  departure  so  soon.  All  in  the  room  was  weep- 
ing ;  —  yet  all  was  bliss  !  Delightful  melancholy !  While 
grief  swelled  our  bosoms,  and  gushed  from  our  eyes,  with 
it  was  mingled  the  blissful  hope  of  immortality  ;  and  upon 
those  rivers  of  tears  were  being  reflected  the  brilliant  and 
lucific  raj^s  of  the  Sun  of  peace.  That  calmness  and  seren- 
ity which  clothed  my  father's  mind  in  sickness,  to  the 
closing  moment,  seemed  to  be  cast,  as  the  mantle  of  the 
departed,  over  the  minds  of  his  family. 

The  forenoon  of  the  next  day,  I  walked  the  fields  which 
had  been  converted  from  the  wilderness  state  by  my  father's 
labor,  and  where  I  had  attended  his  footsteps  during  the 
circuits  of  many  a  summer's  sun.  Never  did  I  spend  a  day 
in  the  indulgence  of  deeper  grief,  and  perhaps  not  in  the 
enjoyment  of  greater  and  more  exalted  happiness.  Though, 
with  the  vivid  memory  of  that  loved  and  venerated  pres- 
ence with  which  I  had  so  long  enjoyed  companionship  in 
all  those  rural  scenes,  the  thought  that  I  should  no  more 
enjoy  that  presence  on  earth  was  prolific  of  grief,  yet  every 
recollection  of  his  life  was  dear  and  precious.  Every  object 
that  called  him  to  mind,  brought  before  me  his  industry,  his 
kind  and  provident  care  of  his  children,  his  dignity  of  de- 
portment, and  his  chaste  and  upright  life  and  conversation. 

In  the  afternoon  I  took  my  sister  Susan  into  my  chaise, 
and  rode  to  the  Burial  Ground.  We  stood  by  the  grave  of 
the  departed  parent,  and  lingered  around  the  spot.  There 
seemed  to  be  a  divine  enchantment  there.  Seemingl}^  some 
angel  spoke  to  my  spirit,  "  His  earthly  form  sleeps  sweetly 
'there.  So  Jesus  slept.  So  you  will  need  to  sleep  in  your 
turn.     But  Jesus  has  arisen,  and  giveth  you  the  assurance 


A.    D.    1826.  167 

that  the  morning  succeedeth  the  night,  when  yon  too  will 
all  awake,  and  never  need  to  sleep  again." 

THE   EASTERN   ASSOCIATION. 

This  Association  held  its  annual  session  for  this  j^ear,  in 
Union,  the  28th  and  29th  inst.  (June).  Sermons  were 
preached  by  Brs.  Geo.  Bates,  Wm.  A.  Drew,  Zenas  Thomp- 
son, John  B.  Dods,  and  R.  Streeter.  Br.  Dods  w^as  edu- 
cated for  and  initiated  into  the  Orthodox  ministry ;  and 
this  was  his  first  appearance  at  any  Uuiversalist  Associa- 
tion as  a  participant  in  its  fellowship  and  services.  His 
sermon,  for  its  power  of  argument  and  eloquence  of  utter- 
ance, produced  very  marked  and  general  satisfaction.  And 
the  Committees  of  our  societies  in  Union  and  Hope,  know- 
ing that  I  was  desirous  of  transferring  my  services  the  por- 
tion of  time  which  I  had  labored  with  them,  to  other  socie- 
ties, and  that  he  was  disengaged,  soon  after  engaged  Br. 
Dods  to  devote  his  whole  time  to  them,  making  his  home 
in  Union. 

Of  the  places  which  I  was  able  to  accommodate  more 
fully  b}^  this  transfer  to  Br.  Dods,  one  was  Bowdoinham. 
See  the  statement  of  the  want  of  the  brethren  there,  on 
page  162. 

THE   NEW   MOVEMENT   IN   DRESDEN. 

The  following  memorandum  I  extract  from  my  Diary  :  — 

"July.  Second  Sunday.  —  I  delivered  two  discourses  in  the 
Meeting  House  of  the  First  Parish  in  Dresden,  and  a  lecture  in  a 
School  House  near  the  Upper  Bridge.  No  Universalist  had 
preached  in  this  town  before ;  but  all  of  the  goodly  number  who 
attended  the  meetings,  so  far  as  I  could  learn,  were  well  affected 
by  the  discourses. 


1C8  ItEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

It  was  my  regular  turn  for  to-day  in  Waterville  West  Meeting 
House,  where  I  procured  Br.  Bates  to  preach  for  me ;  and  it 
happened  to  be  my  regular  day  for  Hope,  for  the  evening  of 
which  I  had  also  an  appointment  in  Montville,  to  which  places  I 
sent  as  my  substitute  Br.  F.  A.  Hodsdon,  who  was  in  study  with 
me  for  the  ministry.  All  this  pains  was  taken  because  of  the 
importance  of  my  preaching  in  Dresden  at  this  particular  time. 
Rev.  Mr.  Parker,  Congregationalist,  the  former  settled  minister 
of  the  Parish,  had  resigned  his  position ;  the  House  stood  unoc- 
cupied ;  and  it  was  deemed  a  ftivorable  time  for  introducing  the 
gospel  of  the  perfect  Saviour.  Geo,  Hoodlett,  Esq.,  was  chair- 
man of  the  Parish  Committee,  and  took  me  to  his  own  house  as 
my  Dresden  home." 


MRS.   COBB  AT  TURNER,  WITH   THE  MEASLES. 

On  the  tliird  Sunday  in  this  month,  July^  I  preached  in 
Turner.  In  the  morning  Mrs.  Cobb's  face  was  thickly 
broken  out  as  if  by  a  humor,  and  was  verj^  red,  and  she 
was  regretting  that  she  should  not  appear  fit  to  attend 
Church  that  da}^  The  whole  affair  was  a  wonder.  But 
Dr.  Philip  Bradford,  a  constant  attendant  of  our  meetings, 
and  brother  of  Asa  Bradford  with  whom  we  were  stopping, 
called  in  as  he  came  to  the  meeting  in  the  morning ;  and, 
on  examination,  pronounced  my  wife's  disease  the  Measles. 
The  exposure  and  fatigue  of  the  long  day's  and  evening's 
ride  with  this  disease  latent  in  the  system,  added  virulence 
to  its.  forces  ;  and  on  its  development  Monday,  and  to  its 
crisis  Tuesda}^  noon,  she  was  seriously  and  dangerously 
sick.  But  she  had  become  so  comfortable  Thursday,  that 
it  was  deemed  expedient  for  me  to  leave  her  in  the  cai-e  of 
the  aforesaid  good  Doctor,  and  the  kind  family  with  whom 
we  were  having  entertainment,  and  return  to  the  oversight 
of  the  little  family  at  home,  and  to  the  fulfilment  of  my 
ministerial  appointments. 


A.    D.    1826.  169 

July ^  Fourth  Sunday.  —  This  was  the  first  "  Communion 
Day"  of  our  infant  church.  At  the  close  of  the  afternoon 
public  service,  which  was  in  the  Waterville  Village  Meet- 
ing House,  I  administered  to  the  church,  and  invited  par- 
ticipants, "The  Lord's  Supper."  It  was  a  solemn  and 
happy  season.  We  all  regretted  the  absence  of  Mrs.  Cobb, 
who  was  sick  at  Turner  as  above  noticed ;  but  we  trusted 
that  she  too,  though  personally  absent,  was  present  with  us 
in  contemplation,  and  was  feasting  on  the  bread  of  life. 

Early  in  this  week  Mrs.  Cobb  had  so  well  recovered  her 
health  that  I  went  to  Turner  with  my  carriage  and  con- 
veyed her  houie. 


AUGUST. 

DRESDEN  ADVANCING. 

From  my  Diary  of  this  month  1  extract  the  following :  — 

"  First  Sunday.  — Preached  in  Dresden.  This  is  my  second 
visit  to  D.  There  appears  to  be  quite  an  awakening  here,  and 
a  '  season  of  refreshing  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord.'  Two 
of  the  three  Parish  Committee  had  before  agreed  to  employ  me. 
to  the  amount  of  the  parish  funds ;  but  they  apprehended  oppo- 
sition from  the  other,  who  was  a  member  of  the  late  pastor's 
church,  and  did  not  attend  meeting  at  the  time  of  my  preaching 
here  before.  But  he  attended  both  services  to-day ;  and  as  he 
passed  out  of  the  Church  at  noon,  he  exclaimed,  '  I  am  a  Uni- 
versalist,  and  am  not  ashamed  to  own  it  before  the  world.'  So 
he  was  desirous,  with  his  associates  on  the  Committee,  to  obtain 
my  labors  for  a  portion  of  the  time  during  their  year's  term  of 
office." 

I  will  here  add,  that,  by  transferring  to  Br.  Dods,  as 
noted  on  page  167,  a  portion  of  my  old  Eastern  circuit, 
comprising  XlDdon  and  Hope,  and  surrounding  neighbor- 


15 


170  liEF.    STLVANUS    COBB^  D.D. 

hoods  for  transient  labor,  I  was  able  to  accommodate  the 
Dresden  Parish  personally  in  part ;  and  to  procure  for 
them,  in  some  instances,  the  services  of  other  denomina- 
tional evangelists.  For,  by  conversions  from  other  denom- 
inations, and  the  entrance  of  a  few  young  men  in  the 
ministry,  it  was  becoming  possible  for  me  to  call  in  assist- 
ants in  some  cases  of  need. 

MY  DEBUT  IN  BRUNSWICK. 

Fourth  Sunday^  August.  —  Having  preached  in  Bowdoin- 
ham  morning  and  afternoon  to-day,  I  delivered  an  evening 
lecture  in  Brunsioich^  of  which  my  Diary  remarks  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

"It  is  the  first  time  I  ever  preached  in  this  place ;  and,  on 
account  of  the  representations  which  had  been  made  to  me  of 
the  inertia  of  the  common  mind  here  in  respect  to  religious 
inquiry,  and  of  the  ill  success  of  former  meetings  for  Univer- 
salist  preaching  in  the  place,  I  was  much  disappointed  in  the 
meeting  this  evening.  Contrary  to  all  expectation  of  mine, 
Kev.  Mr,  Mead's  Meeting  House  (Congregational)  was  opened 
to  me,  and  abo^it  five  hundred  people  were  thought  to  be  in 
attendance.  It  was  an  interesting  occasion.  I  was  entertained 
by  Mr.  McLellan,  the  Post  Master.  That  the  divine  blessing 
crowned  the  word  here  with  success,  may  be  judged  from  the 
circumstance  that  arrangements  were  made  which  procured  my 
services  quite  often ;  and  on  not  a  few  Sabbaths,  while  I 
remained  in  the  State,  a  year  and  a  half  nearly ;  and  the  breth- 
ren here  subscribed  their  portion  of  salary  for  my  pastoral  set- 
tlement with  them  and  the  societies  in  Bath  and  Bowdoinham, 
about  the  time  when  I  engaged  to  remove  to  Maiden,  Mass.,  in 
the  spring  of  1828." 


A.   D.    1826.  171 

ELDER  SAMUEL  HUTCHINSON'S  CONVERSION. 

September  16t7i. — Being  bound  to  Norway,  on  a  visit  to 
my  parents,  preaching  on  my  winding  waj^  I  met  this 
afternoon  a  previous  appointment  for  a  lecture  at  the  house 
of  a  Mr.  Perry  in  Buckfield,  near  the  residence  of  Elder 
Samuel  Hutchinson.  This  appointment  was  procured  by 
letter  to  me  from  Elder  Hutchinson,  of  whose  conversion 
to  Universalism  the  following  histor}''  may  interest  my 
readers :  — 

On  the  17th  of  Februar}^,  1825,  I  preached  a  lecture  in 
Buckfield  Academy.  Dr.  Bridgham,  by  whom  I  was 
entertained,  informed  me  that  Elder  Samuel  Hutchinson, 
who  was  confined  to  his  bed  by  sickness,  and  did  not 
expect  to  recover,  had  committed  to  him  a  message  for 
me,  requesting  that  I  should  call  upon  him  while  in  town. 
I  had  long  known  the  Elder  by  reputation,  as  a  substantial 
and  highly  respected  Free  Will  Baptist  preacher ;  and 
why  he  should  request  a  call  from  me  because  he  regarded 
himself  as  near  the  close  of  life,  I  could  not  imagine. 
Did  he  wish  to  dissuade  me  from  my  faith  as  a  dangerous 
error?  —  On  the  morning  of  the  18th,  Dr.  Bridgham  intro- 
duced me  to  the  venerable  Elder.  He  lay  upon  his  bed  in 
a  feeble  state  of  health ;  but  his  voice  was  firm,  and  his 
mind  strong.  After  the  introduction,  he  led  oflT  in  the 
conversation  in  the  following  strain  :  —  "  You  may  think  it 
strange  that  /  should  request  a  call  from  you  at  the  present 
time.  But  I  will,  in  the  best  manner  I  can,  explain  to  j^ou 
the  cause.  Since  I  have  been  lying  here  upon  my  bed,  not 
expecting  ever  to  go  out  again,  I  have  been  reviewing  my 
theory  of  religious  faith.  And  I  find  a  serious  discrepancy 
between  my  theory  of  faith,  and  my  spirit.  The  spirit  of 
my  mind  is  love  to  all  mankind,  as  children  of  one  Father, 


Ii2  liEV.    SYLVAN  us     COBB^    D.V. 

and  members  of  one  family.  This  love  clings  to  them  all, 
with  earnest  desire  for  their  ultimate  salvation  from  sin, 
and  fellowship  with  the  Father  in  the  likeness  of  his 
spirit ;  — and  it  cannot  give  them  up.  But  the  creed  of  my 
faith  gives  up  countless  millions  to  endless  ruin.  There 
then  is  a  discrepancy  between  my  faith  and  spirit.  And, 
as  they  oppose  each  other,  they  cannot  both  be  right. 
Impressed  with  this  fact,  I  have  solemnly  inquired,  which 
is  right?  and  which  is  wrong?  And  I  find  that  the  spirit 
is  right ;  that  it  is  the  spirit  of  God  manifested  in  Jesus 
Christ,  and  shed  abroad  in  my  heart ;  for  love  is  of  God  ; 
'  and  he  that  loveth  is  born  of  God,  and  knoweth  God,  *  * 
for  God  is  love.'  And  this  love  is  universal ;  for  it  is 
attested  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  '  who,  by  the  grace  of  God^ 
tasted  death  for  every  man.'  These  self-examinations,  and 
trials  of  the  spirit,  have  brought  me  to  the  conclusion  that 
my  theory  of  faith,  which  is  in  opposition  to  the  spirit, 
must  he  ivrong.  Yet  there  are  some  passages  of  Scripture 
which  see^n,  as  I  have  read  them,  to  favor  that  theory. 
And  I  have  felt  that  I  would  like  to  have  a  little  conversa- 
tion with  you,  thinking  that  3'ou  might  help  my  mind  on 
that  class  of  Scripture  texts.  And  learning  that  you  were 
to  lecture  in  the  Academy  last  evening,  I  committed,  the 
message  to  your  friend,  Dr.  Bridgham,  which  he  commu- 
nicated to  you." 

Well,  I  replied,  adduce  a  few  of  those  passages  which 
have  seemed  to  you  most  difficult  to  harmonize  with  the 
spirit  of  Christ  in  your  soul. 

He  proceeded  —  adducing  first  Matt.  xxv.  46:  "And 
these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment ;  but  the 
righteous  into  life  eternal." 

I  entered  upon  our  usual  exegetical  method  of  exposi- 
tion, commencing  to  read  from  the  beginning  of  the  dis- 


A.    D.    1S26.  173 

course  of  Jesus  of  which  the  verse  referred  to  is  the  con- 
clusion. As  I  was  reading  along  in  Chap,  xxiv.,  empha- 
sizing those  expressions  which  bore  explanatory  relations 
to  other  expressions  relating  to  the  nature  and  time  of  this 
judgment,  the  Elder  at  length  interrupted,  saving,  "  You 
need  not  read  farther.  I  see  it  all.  Strange  that  I  had 
not  understood  it  before.  Merely  your  emphasis  upon 
certain  important  expressions  has  opened  the  sense  of  the 
whole,  in  its  connection,  to  my  understanding."  He  then 
took  up  the  work  which  he  had  committed  to  me,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  explain  substantially  as  I  would  have  done,  the 
time  and  nature  of  the  judgment  which  was  in  those  chap- 
ters the  subject  of  discourse  (the  judgment  of  the  end  of 
t^at  age) ,  and  the  sense  in  which  the  events  of  that  judgment 
would  elevate  the  church  of  Christ  into  a  higher  and  more 
permanent  inheritance  of  the  aionion  life  of  the  gospel, 
and  subject  the  persecuting  Jewish  tribes  to  aionion  pun- 
ishment. 

The  Elder's  next  reference  was  to  the  6th  chapter  of 
Hebrews.  I  commenced  reading  it ;  but  had  only  pro- 
nounced the  1st  verse,  with  the  proper  emphasis,  when  he 
interrupted  me  as  in  the  other  case,  saying,  "You  may 
stop  there.  Your  emphasis  again  opens  the  sense  of  the 
whole  chapter  to  my  mind."  My  emphasis  was  as  deooted 
by  the  Italic  letters  in  the  following  reprint  of  verse  1  :  — 
"  Therefore  leaving  the  principles  (the  rudiments')  of  the 
doctrine  of  Christ,  let  us  go  on  unto  perfection ;  not  laying 
again  the  foundation  of  repentance  from  dead  works,  and 

of  faith  toward  God "     Here  he  interrupted  me  as 

above  noted,  and  added,  "  Your  emphasis  of  the  word  prin- 
ciples^ which  means  rudiments,  and  of  again  and  founda- 
tion^ enables  me  to  see  clearly  that  St.  Paul's  meaning  was 
to  admonish  his  Hebrew  brethren  not  to  tarry  longer  in 
15* 


174  JiEF.    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

the  sole  consideration  and  ministerial  employment  of  those 
rudimental  principles  derived  from  the  Mosaic  econom}^, 
through  which  they,  by  initiatory  steps,  had  been  inducted 
into  the  gospel ;  assuring  them,  as  in  verses  4-G,  that 
those  who  had  fallen  away  after  being  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity by  the  instrumentality  of  those  rudiments^  could 
not  be  recovered  by  the  reiteration  of  those  same  rudi- 
ments which  had  lost  weight  with  them.  They  must 
advance  to  the  employment  of  the  broader  and  more 
exalted  principles  which  were  developed  in  the  advanced 
stage  of  Christian  progress."  And  I  added,  that  the  ref- 
erence, in  verses  7  and  8,  to  the  burning  of  the  rubbish 
from  the  thorny  and  briery  land  to  render  it  productive, 
seemed  to  indicate,  in  a  figure,  that  some  of  those  Hebrew 
or  Jewish  apostates  might  be  made  to  taste  of  the  fiery 
judgment  upon  their  nation  in  that  age,  to  bring  them  to 
their  senses. 

The  venerable  Elder  brought  forward  but  few  more 
passages,  on  w^hich  his  mental  perceptions  were  equally 
felicitous,  before  he  seemed  to  be  reasonably  satisfied  that 
there  was  no  Scripture  testimony,  rightly  understood, 
which  favors  the  theory  of  doctrine  that  contradicts  the 
spirit  of  universal  love  shed  abroad  in  the  heart  of  the 
disciple  by  Jesus  Christ.  He  expressed  great  satisfaction 
with  our  interview,  and  hoped  that  I  would  call  upon  him 
again  when  I  should  pass  that  wa}",  if  he  should  remain  in 
this  sphere  to  that  time. 

In  October,  1825,  eight  months  after  this  first  interview, 
I  made  a  moment's  call  into  the  Elder's  house  while  jour- 
neying hurriedly  past.  I  had  barely  time  to  listen  to  his 
announcement  that  he  had  "  become  a  firm  believer  in  the 
final  accomplishment  of  the  purpose  of  God  in  Christ,  in 


A.   D.    1826.  175 

the  salvation  of  all  men,  and  preached  it  when  he  was  able 
to  speak  in  public." 

-  But  now,  Sept.  16th,  1826,  I  had  the  privilege  of  a 
happy  communion,  in  word  and  spirit,  with  the  progressive 
saint.  As  I  said,  this  lecture  which  I  delivered  near  his 
residence,  was  procured  by  his  agency.  He  was  feeble, 
but  able  to  walk  over  to  the  meeting ;  sat  in  a  rocking 
chair  directly  before  me,  his  long  white  hair  flowing  over 
the  chair  back  as  he  leaned  his  head  upon  it,  and  his  lus- 
trous and  oft  moistened  eyes  fixed  intently  upon  me  during 
the  discourse. 

After  the  services  I  walked  with  him  to  his  house,  and 
had  a  short  time  for  conversation.  Sitting  in  his  great 
armed-chair,  and  leaning  himself  back  in  an  easy  posture, 
he  thus  gave  expression  to  his  thoughts  and  feelings  :  — 

"  Br.  Cobb :  You  remember  when,  a  year  ago  last  Feb- 
ruary, you  called  upon  me  here  by  my  invitation,  and 
found  me  upon  my  back  on  that  bed.  I  described  to  yon 
the  painful  discrepancy  which  I  saw  and  felt  to  have 
obtained  between  my  theory  of  faith  and  the  spirit  of 
Christ  in  my  soul.  Now,  blessed  be  God,  that  discrep- 
ancy is  removed,  and  all  is  harmony  and  peace.  When  I 
indulge  in  meditation  on  the  wants  of  my  soul,  for  mj^self, 
and  fellow  beings  whom  I  love ;  and  on  the  perfectness 
and  fulness  of  the  gospel  provisions,  in  the  infinite  abun- 
dance of  God's  grace  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ,  to  fill  and 
satisfy  all  these  wants  ;  I  am  sometimes  obliged  to  stop 
thinking,  or  my  heart  would  burst  of  its  fulness  of  wonder, 
love  and  joy." 

The  good  old  man  lived  several  years  after  this,  was 
able  to  preach  considerably,  and  wrote  and  published  sev- 
eral small  books  in  maintenance  of  his  enlarged  and  per- 
fected faith. 


176  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

VISIT  TO   CALAIS   AND   ST.  STEVENS. 

October.  —  This  month  was  devoted  to  a  missionary  visit 
on  the  Eastern  border  of  Maine,  and  in  the  western  or 
adjoining  section  of  New  Brunswick.  Going  with  my 
private  team  to  Belfast,  preaching  all  along  by  the  way, 
and  that  way  bending  well  down  towards  the  sea,  I  left  my 
team  in  the  care  of  Col.  Stanley,  in  Belfast,  on  the  12th ; 
and,  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.  took  the  steamer  Patent,  Capt. 
Cram,  whose  regular  trips  were  between  Bath  and  East- 
port.  At  10  o'clock  in  the  evening  we  anchored  in  Cran- 
berry Island  Harbor,  where  a  heavy  north-east  storm  of 
wind  and  rain  detained  us  two  nights  and  days,  over  to 
Saturday  evening.  The  weather  cleared  off  Saturday 
evening,  and  the  full  moon  shone  with  all  its  soft  efful- 
gence. Our  steamer  went  out  on  its  course  for  Eastport. 
For  thirty  miles,  across  Frenchman's  and  Dyar's  Bays,  the 
roll  of  the  sea  was  grand  and  majestic  ;  and  the  reflection 
of  the  moon-beams  from  the  rolling  ocean  billows  far  as 
the  eye  could  reach,  presented  a  scene  of  awful  beauty.  I 
enjoyed  the  view  most  hugely,  for  I  was  not  sea-sick.  I 
was  never  sea-sick. 

"We  were  out  all  the  day,  Sunday,  when,  by  appointment, 
I  was  to  have  been  preaching  in  Calais.  The  disappoint- 
ment of  my  friends  there  was  serious  of  course  ;  for  they 
had  long  been  urging  a  visit  from  me,  and  now  were  ver}^ 
solicitously  awaiting  my  coming.  "We  arrived  at  Eastport 
at  8  o'clock  Sunday  evening.  I  was  met  at  the  wharf  by 
Henry  Hobbs,  a  son  of  my  friend  Micah  Hobbs,  Esq.,  of 
Hope,  who  conducted  me  to  his  home. 

16^7t,  Monday.  —  I  tarried  in  Eastport  this  day,  and,  by 
invitation,  delivered  a  lecture  in  the  Unitarian  Church. 

11th,    Tuesday. — I  took   stage,   driven    by   my  friend 


A.    D.    1826.  177 

Thomas  McFarland,  from  Waterville,  and  rode  to  Calais, 
30  miles.  Here  my  principal  home  was  the  house  of  Maj. 
Redding. 

I  spent  two  weeks  in  that  region,  during  which  I  preached 
two  lectures  in  Eastport,  Me.,  one  in  the  Unitarian,  and 
the  other  in  the  Free  Will  Baptist  Church  ;  two  lectures  in 
Robbinston,  and  two  week  evening  lectures  and  two  Sab- 
bath days  in  Calais,  Me. ;  and  two  lectures  in  St.  Stephens, 
and  two  in  St.  Davids,  N.  B.  I  found  many  worthy  friends 
on  both  sides  of  the  boundary  line  between  United  States 
and  British  territory,  whose  kind  attentions  added  much  to 
the  pleasures  of  my  visit.  The  closing  services  of  this  mis- 
sion were  those  of  the  second  Sunday  in  Calais.  The 
weather  was  pleasant,  and  the  assembly  was  large,  and,  in 
the  afternoon  especially,  the  whole  audience  appeared  to 
be  melted  under  the  influence  of  gospel  truth.  As  I  was  to 
start  homeward  immediately  after  meeting,  numbers  of  the 
brethren  called  in  at  Maj.  Redding's  to  take  their  leave  of 
me.  It  was  an  affecting  occasion.  The  presence  and  labor 
among  them,  even  for  so  short  a  time,  of  a  minister  of  the 
gospel  in  its  fulness  which  satisfies  the  soul,  was  a  matter 
of  rare  interest ;  and  this  interest  was  a  promoter  of  the 
strength  of  the  personal  attachments  so  quickly  contracted. 
When  I  felt  the  emotional  grip  of  their  hands,  and  saw 
flowing  from  their  eyes  the  signs  of  deeply  agitated  feeling, 
which  almost  denied  their  lips  the  utterance  of  their  kindly 
sympathy  and  blessing,  I  could  not  pronounce  my  own 
adieus  and  responses  in  a  firm  and  steady  voice.* 

*  As  a  testimony  of  the  estimation  in  ■which  Mr.  Cobb's  services  during  his 
brief  visit  at  St.  Stephens  and  vicinity  were  held  in  that  region,  the  memoirist 
takes  the  liberty  to  present  here  in  a  note,  the  following  extract  from  the  Goapel 
Banner,  of  the  Editor's  journal  of  a  ministerial  visit  to  the  same  community  in 
August,  1865,  thirty-nine  years  subsequently.  After  giving  a  sketch  of  the  emi- 
nent talents  and  worth,  and  the  popular  standing  with  the  public,  of  Hon. 


178  ItEV.    SYLVAXUS     COBB,    T).D. 

As  tbe  steamer  did  not  leave  Eastport  at  the  time  which 
would  enable  me,  by  that  medium,  to  reach  my  earliest 
engagements  in  Kennebec,  I  made  the  fact  known ;  and  a 
friend  in  Calais  who  had  been  pasturing  a  young  horse  for 
a  man  residing  near  Belfast  where  I  left  my  team,  proposed 
that  I  ride  him  to  that  place.  I  accepted  the  proposition, 
thereby  accommodating  my  friend  with  a  free  transfer  of 
the  colt  to  its  owner,  and  myself  to  a  long  free  passage 
homeward.  But  my  passage  was  a  colt-back  ride,  much  of 
the  way  through  a  lonesome  wilderness.  I  turned  off  at 
Robbinston  from  the  St.  Croix  river  road,  into  the  narrow 
path  in  the  wilderness,  riding  in  a  quiet  rain-storm  under 
my  umbrella.  But  as  the  darkness  of  night  came  on,  the 
storm  became  a  heavy  gale ;  and  often  a  tree  was  blown 
down  across  the  road  just  before  me,  around  either  the  top 
or  root  of  which  I  was  obliged  to  feel  the  way  in  the  woods, 
dismounting  and  leading  my  horse.     At  length,  about  8 

James  Brown,  of  St.  Davids,  Rev.  Mr.  Quinby,  the  above  named  Editor, 
under  the  head  of  "  The  Early  Proclaimers  of  our  Faith  in  St.  Stephens,"  says  :  — 

Mr.  Brown  was  familiar  with  the  history  of  our  cause  in  St.  Stephens  from  its 
beginning,  and  gave  us  information  relative  to  the  early  labors  of  our  brethren 
in  that  section,  of  which  we  had  never  before  heard.  Father  Joseph  Butter- 
field,  from  the  western  part  of  Maine,  Avas  the  first  preacher  of  Universalism 
wlio  visited  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick  for  the  purpose  of  preaching.  He 
was  a  man,  said  Mr.  Brown,  who  always  spoke  extemporaneously;  was  a  kind, 
social  man,  rather  pleasing  in  his  address,  plain  in  his  method  as  a  preacher, 
but  not  a  man  of  much  power  or  talent.  John  Bovee  Dods  was  the  next 
minister  of  our  denomination  who  visited  that  region.  He  preached  in  churches, 
school-houses  or  wherever  an  opening  offered.  He  was,  said  Mr.  Brown,  a 
deep,  acute,  subtle  reasoner,  and  irresistible  in  his  argument  —  was  at  home  in 
any  place  and  fit  for  any  kind  of  service,  or  any  kind  of  fare. 

Rev.  Sylvanus  Cobb  (now  D.D.,)  next  came  to  St.  Stephens  for  the  purpose 
of  preaching  the  everlasting  Gospel.  Mr.  Cobb,  by  his  dignity,  sincerity,  schol- 
arly attainments  and  great  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  carried  conviction  to 
the  hearts  of  his  hearers  wherever  he  preached.  He,  said  Mr.  Brown,  was  the 
deepest  thinker,  best  reasoner,  and  really  a  man  of  more  true  eloquence  than  any 
of  the  early  promulgators  of  our  faith  in  New  Brunswick.  All  these  men  made 
proselytes  by  their  labors.  The  church  of  St.  Stephens,  of  which  Rev.  Mr.  Phil- 
brook  is  now  the  successful  pastor,  the  meeting  at  Moore's  Mills  —  the  existence 
of  Universalists  all  through  that  region,  are  fruits  of  the  seed  sown  by  those 
early  itinerants.  — "See  Gospel  Banner  of  Sept.  23,  1865." 


A.    D.    1826.  179 

o'clock,  I  espied  a  light  in  a  log  hut  by  the  way,  and  called 
in.  I  modestly  explained  the  danger  of  travelling  that 
wilderness-way  in  the  darkness  and  storm,  and  amidst  fall- 
ing trees,  thus  pleading  their  kind  consent  to  afford  shelter 
for  the  night  to  myself  and  beast.  An  affirmative  answer 
was  promptl}^  given.  The  horse  was  forthwith  comfortably 
housed  and  well  fed  ;  a  passable  supper  was  provided  for 
me  ;  and  in  due  time  the  gentleman  and  lady  of  the  cottage 
clambered  up  a  ladder,  through  a  scuttle,  into  the  attic,  and 
left  to  me  for  the  night  their  comfortable  bed  in  the  lower 
room,  which  was  entry,  kitchen,  sitting-room  and  parlor,  all 
in  one.  I  lay  awake  an  hour  or  more  thinking  of  robbers  ; 
and  then  slept  soundly  until  3  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
The  storm  had  passed  off,  the  full  moon  shone  brightl}^,  and 
I  arose,  called  mine  host  from  the  attic  to  assist  me  in  get- 
ting out  my  horse,  and  to  receive  remuneration  for  enter- 
tainment ;  and  I  sprang  into  the  saddle,  and  made  speed 
westward.  (By  the  way,  I  will  remark  that,  on  going  out 
in  the  morning,  I  saw  by  the  moonlight,  on  a  piece  of  board 
nailed  to  a  corner  of  the  cabin,  the  inscription  painted  in 
large  letters,  ENTERTAINMENT.  I  perceived  hence 
that  I  had  blundered  into  an  Inn.  And  this  accounted  for 
the  i^rompt  and  unquestioning  compliance,  on  my  arrival, 
with  my  petition  for  a  night's  shelter.) 

31s^.  —  I  rode  thirteen  miles,  to  West  Machias,  in  season 
to  breakfast  at  Hill's  Inn.  Then,  pushing  forward  to  the 
distance  of  fifty-four  miles  from  my  log  tavern,  I  put  up  at 
an  Inn  kept  also  hy  a  Mr.  Hill. 

November  3cL  —  Diligently  pressing  forward,  exchanging 
the  colt  I  had  in  charge  for  my  own  team  in  Belfast,  I 
reached  home  this  day,  and  found  all  well.  The  following 
which  my  pen  then  and  there  inscribed  upon  my  journal, 
was  the  song  of  the  heart.     "  Wherever  we  go  the  kind  care 


180  JiEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB^    D.D. 

of  God  is  over  us,  his  rich  bounty  supplies  us,  and  his  right 
hand  sustains  us.  '  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  and  forget 
not  all  his  benefits.'  " 

The  remaining  weeks  of  this  year,  November  and  Decem- 
ber, were  appropriated  to  my  usual  round  of  labor,  —  lec- 
tures as  plenty  as  ever.  One  event  of  December,  however, 
I  will  note  here  ;  which  is  my  Valedictory  in  Turner.  This 
extract  from  my  Diary  discloses  it :  — 

'■'December,  Third  Sunday. — I  preached  in  Turner.  In  the 
afternoon  I  delivered  my  Valedictory  Discourse^  closing  a  series 
of  engagements  for  a  quarter  of  the  time,  covering  two  years.  It 
was  an  affecting  occasion.  We  had  enjoyed  together  many 
times  of  refreshing  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  ;  large  num- 
bers had  punctually  attended  at  our  places  of  worship,  and  by 
their  earnest  and  often  tearful  attention  evinced  that  they  felt 
deeply  interested  in  the  principles  and  purposes  of  the  gospel, 
and  in  the  use  of  the  aj^propriate  means  of  religious  culture. 
The  hearts  of  children,  youth,  middle  aged  and  aged,  had  often 
melted  together  beneath  the  efficient  power  of  truth  and  love 
divine,  and  we  were  strongly  united  in  bonds  of  brotherly  affec- 
tion. For  most  of  the  time  we  had  crowded  in  and  around  a 
School  House  for  the  exercises  of  public  worship.  But  now  we 
sat  in  a  commodious  edifice,"  erected  and  finished  the  past  season, 
for  ourselves.  Indeed  many  circumstances  conspired  to  render 
this  occasion  productive  of  deep  emotions.  I  was  taking  my 
leave  of  this  people  for  the  present,  under  the  impression  that 
I  should  not  find  it  expedient  to  renew  an  engagement  with 
them  in  the  future.  I  could  not  bring  my  mind  to  the  con- 
clusion that  I  should  find  it  expedient  to  accede  to  the  gen- 
erally expressed  desh-e  that  I  would  remove  my  family  to 
that  place,  and  take  the  permanent  pastoral  charge  of  the  soci- 
ety ;  and  on  this  account  I  judged  it  best  for  them  that  I  should 
leave  them  in  a  condition  which  would  prompt  as  well  as  permit 
them  to  be  forthwith  seeking  them  a  pastor.  Furthermore,  I 
wanted,  for  the  ensuing  year,  the  portion  of  time  which  I  had 
been  devoting  to  Turner,  and  more  too,  for  additional  Sabbath 
services  in  Bowdoinham,  Brunswick,  Bath  and  Dresden." 


A.    D.    1827.  181 

A.  D.  1827. 

JANUARY   AND    FEBRUARY. 

Most  of  these  two  months  I  spent  in  Portland,  as  a 
Representative  of  Waterville  in  the  Maine  Legislatnre, 
which  then  held  its  sessions  in  that  city.  I  was  much  sur- 
prised when  I  was  informed  by  a  committee  of  my  friends, 
just  before  the  election,  that  they  had  it  in  contemplation 
to  send  me  to  the  Legislature.  There  was  no  danger  of 
my  consenting  to  such  a  candidacy,  or  accepting  the  office 
of  Representative  if  conferred  upon  me  by  the  people, 
exciting  any  harmful  political  animosity  with  any  of  my 
parishioners.  For  there  was  no  political  excitement  at 
that  time,  aud  no  question  was  asked  me  in  relation  to  my 
political  opinions.  The  community  had  hardly  outgrown 
the  quietude  of  the  Monroe  administration,  when  all  were 
Federal  Republicans.  True  there  was  considerable  excite- 
ment at  the  Presidential  election  of  1824,  when  John 
Quincy  Adams  and  Andrew  Jackson  were  the  opposing 
candidates,  at  which  election  no  choice  was  effected  by  the 
people,  and  Mr.  Adams  was  elected  by  Congress.  But 
new  party  lines  w^ere  hardly  yet  defined,  and  general  quiet 
reigned.  Timothy  Boutwell,  Esq.,  the  most  popular  law- 
yer of  the  town,  had  represented  Waterville  in  the  Legis- 
lature several  years ;  and  I  was  elected  in  opposition  to 
him,  by  more  than  a  three  quarters  vote,  if  I  rightl}^  recol- 
lect. He  was  a  Federalist  of  the  Hartford  Convention  and 
Caleb  Strong  times ;  and  I  was  a  Republican  of  the  same 
times.  (See  my  political  record  in  the  sketch  of  m}^ 
juvenile  days,  pages  31,  32.) 

I  was  at  my  post  in  the  House  in  the  morning  of  the  first 
day  of  the  session,  Jan.  3d.  Enoch  Lincoln,  of  Paris,  was 
16 


182  RKV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

Governor ;  find,  in  the  organization  of  the  Legislature, 
Robert  P.  Dimlap,  of  Brunswicli,  was  elected  President  of 
the  Senate  ;  and  John  Ruggles,  of  Thomaston,  Speaker  of 
the  House.  My  wife  abode  with  me,  in  Portland,  during 
this  terra ;  and  our  boarding  was  with  the  quiet  and  pleas- 
ant family  of  Capt.  John  M.  Knight.  Our  two  little  boys, 
Sylvanus,  Jr.,  and  Samuel  Tucker,  we  boarded  with  our 
kind  friend,  William  Wyman,  in  Waterville. 

The  only  business  of  legislation  which  came  before  this 
session  devolving  special  care  upon  me,  was  the  location 
of  the  State  Capitol,  to  be  subsequently  built,  which 
involved  also,  of  course,  the  locality  to  be  appropriated  as 
the  State  Capital.  Mr.  Boutwell,  my  predecessor  in  the 
office  of  Representative,  put  into  my  hand  a  deed  of  an 
eligible  site  for  the  public  buildings,  to  be  offered  as  a  gift 
to  the  State  provided  they  would  locate  them  in  Waterville, 
Augusta  had,  earlier  and  from  the  beginning,  been  urging 
its  claims  to  this  distinction,  and  was  inserted  in  the  Bill 
reported  by  the  Committee  on  the  location  of  the  Capital. 
I  moved,  in  the  House,  the  striking  out  of  Augusta,  and 
substitution  of  Waterville.  I  described  its  superior  beauty 
and  pleasantness  of  locality  ;  its  better  centralit}^  between 
the  northern  and  southern  boundaries  of  the  State,  and  its 
equal  centrality  between  the  eastern  and  western.  And  I 
predicted,  in  view  of  the  levelness  of  the  route,  and  the 
advancement  of  settlements  in  the  north-east,  that  it  would, 
within  a,  few  years,  be  taken  in  on  the  principal  thorough- 
fare east  and  west  through  the  State.  This  prediction  was 
fulfilled  several  years  ago,  by  the  building  of  the  great 
Maine  Central  Railroad,  from  Portland  to  Bangor,  and 
thence  eastward  to  Eastport,  passing  through  Waterville. 

To  the  general  surprise,  the  vote  came  within  three  of 
passing  my  amendment.     But  Augusta  had  the  advantage 


A.    D.    1827.  '  183 

of  much  early  work  in  her  interest,  and  not  a  little  "  log- 
rolling ;  "  and  it  was  at  length  made  the  seat  of  the  State 
government. 

I  found  the  Legislature  a  good  school  for  instruction  in 
Parliamentary  rules  of  business  in  organized  bodies,  with 
which  I  have  since  had  much  to  do  ;  and  for  the  study  of 
human  nature. 

With  regard  to  my  ministerial  labors  in  these  two 
months,  I  preached  the /rst  Sunday  in  Charlestown,  Mass. ; 
the  second^  in  Portland,  on  exchange  with  the  pastor,  Br. 
Russell  Streeter,  who  preached  for  me  in  BovvTloinham  ;  the 
thirds  in  Brunswick  ;  the  fourth^  in  Turner  ;  the  fifths  Feb. 
4th,  again  in  Portland;  the  sixths  Feb.  11th,  in  Bowdoin- 
ham ;  the  seventh^  Feb.  18th,  in  Poland,  New  Meeting 
House,  —  where  I  had  the.  happiness  of  meeting  with  my 
brothers  Cyrus  and  Samuel,  from  Norway  ;  the  eighth^  Feb. 
25th,  in  Wiscasset.  I  also,  during  the  same  term  of  time, 
delivered  week  evening  lectures  in  Portland,  Brunswick, 
North  Yarmouth,  Gray  Corner,  and  New  Gloucester. 

From  Wiscasset,  where  I  preached  as  above  noted  on 
Sunday,  Feb.  25th,  the  session  of  the  Legislature  being 
about  to  close,  and  I,  that  I  might  not  be  under  the  neces- 
sity of  returning  to  Portland,  having  obtained  leave  of 
absence,  and  pa?/,  hastened  directly  home  on  Monday, 
wife  in  company  of  course,  and,  after  an  absence  of  eight 
weeks,  had  the  happiness  to  meet  again  our  lovely  boys,  in 
health  and  good  cheer.  No  wonder  that  I  sat  down  to  my 
Journal,  and  perpetrated  the  following  verse  :  — 

Great  God,  we  thank  thee  for  thy  love, 

And  thy  protecting  power; 
Thy  rich  and  constant  blessings  prove 

Thy  goodness  every  hour. 


184  BEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

March.  —  I  have  nothing  to  record  of  the  labors  of  this 
month,  outside  of  my  usual  ministerial  duties.  But  I  will 
transcribe  here  the  following  memorandum  which  I  find  in 
my  Journal  of  March  19th,  in  relation  to  an  accumulation 
of 

«*PAI10CHIAL  CALLS. 

"  This  week  I  received  a  letter  from  Rev.  Thomas  Whittemore, 
of  Cambridgeport,  in  behalf  of  the  Universalist  society  of  Wa- 
tertown  and  Newton,  Mass.,  in^^ting  me  to  make  them  a  visit 
with  reference  to  a  future  settlement  with  them,  offering  600 
dollars  per  year.  But  a  few  weeks  ago  I  received  a  letter  from 
Mr.  Joseph  P.  Bosworth,  of  Duxbury,  Mass.,  in  behalf  of  the 
Universalist  society  in  that  place,  inviting  me  to  settle  with 
them ;  stating  that  they  would  pay  me  $500  for  the  first  year, 
$600  for  the  second  ;  and  could  probably  continue  to  increase  the 
salary  further  if  necessary.  Mr.  Bosworth  had  formed  such 
acquaintance  with  my  labors  in  Maine,  that,  upon  his  testimony, 
the  society  voted  a  call  for  a  settlement  without  the  usual  candi- 
dacy. I  likewise  received  an  invitation  a  few  months  since, 
from  the  Committee  of  the  Universalist  society  in  Charlestown, 
Mass.,  to  stand  a  candidate  for  them  when  their  present  Pastor's 
time  with  them  shall  have  exinred,  which  will  be  next  June.  In 
this  State,  the  societies  in  Wiscasset,  Dresden  and  Bowdoinham 
have,  unitedly,  made  arrangements  to  have  me  settle  with  them 
on  a  salaiy  of  $500.  And  the  Turner  parish  has  renewed  its 
invitation,  proffering  me  the  same  salary  on  a  pastoral  settle- 
ment in  that  pleasant  and  wealthy  agricultural  town. 

"But  the  society  in  this  place  (Waterville) ,  have  voted  to 
raise  my  salary  from  $400  to  $500,  and  to  employ  me  at  that 
rate  three  fourths  of  the  time  or  more.  And  now,  my  attach- 
ment to  the  people  here,  and  my  impression  in  respect  to  moral 
obligations  at  the  present,  hold  me  yet  to  my  present  post.  I 
cannot  bring  my  mind  to  the  determination  to  leave  this  people 
the  present  season,  especially  as  their  new  arrangements  insure 
so  fair  a  provision  for  my  family.  As  it  regards  the  portion  of 
the  time  for  which  my  Waterville  friends  jDledge  the  suj)port  of 
my  labors,  three  fourths  of  the  time  is  as  much  as  I  wish  or 
ought,  under  existing  circumstances  in  the  community  round 


A,    D.    1827.  185 

about,  to  preacli  in  this  place.  Even  by  this  arrangement,  I 
must  disappoint  many  fraternities  of  believers  and  inquirers  in 
other  places,  who  look  to  me  for  ministerial  visits." 


ANOTHER  WELCOME  VISITANT. 

April  15t7i. — This  morning  our  third  cJiild,  the  Jlrst 
daughter,  was  born ;  —  whom,  on  Sunday,  July  8th,  we 
publicty  dedicated  by  the  name  of  Eunice  Hale.  All 
well. 

THE  EASTERN   ASSOCIATION. 

This  body  met  in  Livermore  June  27th,  and  remained  in 
session  two  days.  Present,  —  R.  Streeter,  Jabez  Wood- 
man, Wm.  A.  Drew,  J.  B.  Dods,  Wm.  Frost,  S.  Cobb,  F. 

Mace,  Henry  Hawkins, Dolloff,  George  Bates,  F.  A. 

Hodsdon,   Wilbur,    and    Whittier.      Sermons    were 

preached  by  Brs.  Woodman,  Dods,  Frost,  Cobb  and 
Streeter.  License  was  granted  Br.  Wilbur ;  and  Ordina- 
tion was  conferred  upon  Brs.  Woodman,  Dods,  Hodsdon 
and  Whittier.  The  occasion,  altogether,  was  one  of  deep 
interest. 

MY  FIRST  VISIT  TO   MALDEN,-  MASS. 

Having  received  an  invitation  from  the  Committee  of  the 
First  Parish  in  Maiden,  Mass.,  to  preach  a  few  Sundays  in 
their  Parish  Meeting  House  at  my  earliest  convenience,  and 
desiring  to  visit  my  friends  in  Massachusetts,  I  accepted 
the  invitation,  and  appointed*©  preach  in  that  place  on  the 
first,  second  and  tliird  Sundays  in  August. 

I  made  the  journey  to  meet  this  engagement  with  my 
own  team  ;  arrived  in  Boston  Aug.  2d  ;  dined  that  day  with 
16* 


186  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

Br.  S.  Streeter,  and  the  next  clay  with  Dr.  A.  R,  Thomp- 
son of  Charlestown.  During  these  two  days  I  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Br.  Thomas  Whittemore  of  Cambridgeport, 
by  whose  advice  the  Maiden  Committee  extended  to  me 
this  invitation,  and  several  other  w^orthy  friends,  and  visited 
places  of  interest  in  the  city,  and  in  Charlestown.  On  the 
evening  of  the  3d,  I  preached  Br.  Streeter's  Preparatory 
Lecture  in  his  Vestry. 

August,  First  Sunday.  —  I  "was  on  hand  in  Maiden.  But 
I  did  not  preach  in  the  First  Parish  Meeting  House,  as  I 
was  invited  to  do.  The  story  is  this  :  —  Rev.  Aaron 
Green,  who  had  been  the  minister  of  that  Parish  thirty-six 
3'ears,  had  resigned  the  Pastorate,  and  the  Parish,  at  a 
meeting  called  for  the  election  of  a  Supplying  Committee, 
elected  upon  that  Committee  a  majority  of  Universalists. 
It  was  by  the  ruling  of  this  majority  that  I  was  invited  by 
the  Chairman  to  supply  as  above  noted.  This  was  the 
"  Territorial  Parish,"  as  the  First  Parish  in  each  town  was 
denominated  under  the  Parochial  laws  of  Massachusetts  in 
her  Colonial  and  early  State  capacity.  And  as  all  the  citi- 
zens of  a  town  had  been  regarded  as  members  of  the  Terri- 
torial Parish,  who  had  not  contracted  membership  in  a 
"  Voluntary "  or  "  Poll  Parish,"  it  was  supposed  that  the 
members  of  Poll  Parishes,  by  withdrawing  from  such  Par- 
ishes, fell  back  of  course  into  the  Territorial  Parish  as 
members.  Under  this  view  of  the  matter,  another  meeting 
was  called  of  the  First  Parish  for  the  purpose  of  adding  to 
their  Supplying  Committee ;  and  a  sufficient  number  of 
members  went  through  some  form  of  withdrawal  from  the 
Baptist  and  Methodist  societies,  and  voted  at  this  second 
meeting  of  the  First  society,  to  make  a  majority  against 
the  Universalists  ;  and  a  sufficient  number  of  our  opposers 
were  added  to  the  Committee  to  change  the  character  of 


A.    D.    1827.  187 

the  majority ;  and  the  action  of  the  Committee  in  relation 
to  me  Yv'as  countermanded,  and  the  old  Church  was  not 
accessible  to  me. 

But  my  friends  were  none  the  less  desirous  that  I  should 
fulfil  my  appointments  in  the  town  ;  and  our  meetings  were 
held  in  a  large  School  House  Hall. 

This  week,  after  the  Sabbath,  I  improved  in  visiting,  for 
the  first  time,  my  relatives  in  Middleboro',  35  miles  South 
of  Boston,  from  which  place  my  father,  with  all  the  family 
older  than  myself,  moved  to  Norway  in  1797.  My  first  call 
there  was  upon  my  uncle  Levi  Cobb,  my  father's  youngest 
brother,  who  occupied  the  old  homestead.  The  visit  to  this 
old  mansion,  which  had  been  the  home  of  several  of  my 
progenitors,  was  fraught  with  thrilling  interest.  I  called 
also  upon  all  my  father's  surviving  brothers  and  sisters, 
who,  besides  Levi,  were  James  and  Isaiah ;  and  Rebecca 
and  Lydia,  the  former  of  whom  married  a  Perkins,  and  the 
latter  a  Shaw.  On  Friday  evening  I  preached  a  lecture  in 
the  house  of  my  Uncle  James.  Saturday  I  returned 
towards  my  Sunday's  field  of  labor  as  far  as  Boston,  and 
spent  the  night  with  Br.  Hosea  Ballou.  He  presented  me 
with  the  following  letter,  which  he  had  received  during  my 
absence  at  Middleborough,  from  the  Committee  of  the 
Universalist  society  in  Hartford,  Ct. :  — 

'♦Haktford,  Aug.  7,  1827. 
Rev.  Hosea  Ballou: 

Dear  Sm,  —  Regarding  you  as  the  great  apostle  of  truth  of 
the  present  day,  and  knowing  the  interest  you  have  ever  mani- 
fested for  the  prosperity  of  the  Universalist  Society  in  this  city, 
we  make  no  apology  for  addressing  you  on  a  subject  connected 
with  its  concerns.  Having  been  informed  by  Mr.  Ruggles  that 
you  named  Mr.  Cobb  of  Maine  as  a  man  whom  you  thought 
might  be  profitably  employed  in  the  ministry  here,  and  Mr.  Cobb 
being  also  well  reputed  by  Mr.  Wright  and  others,  we  were 


188  nEv.   SYLVAxus   conn^  d.d. 

induced  to  write  him  at  Watorville  requesting  him  to  visit  Hart- 
ford to  i^reach  three  or  more  Sabbaths  as  soon  as  he  could  con- 
veniently leave  home  ;  and  suggesting  that,  if  the  people  should 
be  pleased  with  his  performances  in  the  pulpit  and  with  his  per- 
sonal deportment,  the  society  might  make  him  an  offer  of  per- 
manent' employment,  should  he  desire  it. 

"  In  answer  to  the  letter  we  have  received  one  from  Mrs. 
Cobb  of  the  od  inst.,  informing  us  that  her  husband  was  absent, 
and  that  he  was  to  preach  in  Maiden  on  the  first,  second  and 
third  Sabbaths  in  the  present  month.  As  Maiden,  we  believe, 
is  but  four  or  five  miles  from  Boston,  we  presume  so  much  on 
your  goodness  as  to  request  that  you  would  see  him,  if  conven- 
ient, in  our  behalf.  We  are  anxious  that  Mr,  Col^b,  if  he  should 
conclude  to  come  on  here  at  all,  should  be  here  on  the  third 
Sabbath  in  this  month,  and  have  supposed  that  he  might  get 
some  one  to  supply  his  place  on  that  day  in  Maiden.  Whether 
he  can  come  then,  or  at  any  subsequent  time,  we  wish  to  be  in- 
formed as  soon  as  possible. 

'*  We  salute  you  as  friends  and  brethren. 

"  JOHN  M.  NILES,       ^ 

♦•J.  P.  RAMSEY,  >  Committee:' 

"  WILLIAM  BENTON,  J 

The  next  morning  (Siinda}-),  I  went  out  to  my  second 
days'  service  in  Maiden.  During  the  intermission  I  read 
to  a  collection  of  my  friends  there  the  Hartford  letter,  and 
conferred  with  them  on  the  question  of  their  relinquishment 
to  the  Hartford  society  of  their  claim  on  my  third  Sabbath 
service  with  them.  We  deliberated  in  view  of  the  following 
plan  on  the  part  of  my  Maiden  friends :  —  The  enlarged 
and  discordant  Parish  Committee  were  in  office  for  the 
balance  of  the  fiscal  year,  to  the  next  annual  March  meet- 
ing. My  friends  were  confident  that  then  the  Parish  would 
elect  me  as  their  pastor  if  I  would  come  and  preach  a  few 
Sunda3^s  in  the  Hall,  before  the  Parish  meeting ;  and  they 
desired  that  I  should  hold  mj-self  in  a  situation  which  would 
admit  of  my  doing  so  if  I  should  then  be  so  disposed.     I, 


A.    D.    1827.  189 

on  my  part,  stated  to  them  that  I  was  of  the  opinion  that 
I  should  not  be  pleased  to  remove  to  Hartford,  even  if  I 
were  invited ;  that  I  was  not  inclined  to  spend  with  them 
there  the  several  Sundays  which  they  asked  on  candidacy ; 
but  I  would  like  to  visit  that  city,  and  thought  it  best  that 
I  should  go  and  spend  the  next  Sunday  there,  by  which 
means  I  could  probably  dismiss  the  idea  of  further  negoti- 
ations with  that  society.  With  these  views  consent  was 
given  to  relinquish  the  next  Sabbath's  preaching  by  me  in 
Maiden ;  I  forthwith  wrote  the  Committee  accordingly 
at  Hartford ;  and  preached  in  the  Universalist  Church  in 
that  city  on  the  Third  Sunday  in  August.  I  had  a  pleas- 
ant visit,  and  left  the  Committee  without  any  engagement 
for  another  visit ;  but  with  the  understanding  that  they 
would  communicate  to  me  on  their  affairs  at  a  future  time. 
Soon  afterwards  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  wrote  me 
that  Rev.  Menzies  Rayner,  an  Episcopal  Clergyman  of  good 
order  of  talent,  had  just  avowed  himself  a  Universalist ; 
that  he  had  been  pastor  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Hart- 
ford, and  had  many  warm  friends  in  that  city ;  and  that 
many  members  of  the  Universalist  society  were  of  the 
opinion  that  it  would  be  greatl}^  to  their  advantage  to  set- 
tle him  as  their  pastor.  To  this  posture  of  affairs  my  heart 
responded,  Amen.  For  though  the  Committee  kindly  sug- 
gested that  I  might,  nevertheless,  receive  a  call  from  the 
society,  I  was  now  happily  free  from  all  thoughts  of  negoti- 
ation in  that  direction.  My  renewed  engagement  with 
"Waterville,  and  the  work  on  vay  hands  elsewhere  in  Maine, 
forbade  my  removal  within  that  year,  from  the  State  of 
Maine,  to  any  place.  And  the  general  understanding  that 
I  should  again  represent  Waterville  in  the  Legislature  the 
ensuing  winter,  constituted  a  tie  upon  my  pride  and  self- 
ishness to  hold  me  back  from  a  sudden  removal.     And  I 


190  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

entertained  the  opinion  that,  if  I  should  be  inclined  to 
change  my  situation  the  next  Spring,  I  should  find  accessi- 
ble to  me  the  Parish  in  Maiden,  a  pleasant  suburb  of  Bos- 
ton, to  my  mind  the  most  desirable  of  all  cities  in  the 
world. 

So  I  returned  to  my  family  in  Waterville,  and  to  my 
people  there  and  everywhere  else  in  Maine,  cheerfully 
resuming  my  evangelical  labors,  and  carrying  out  my 
assumed  obligations. 

THE  SERVICE  I  DID  NOT  PERFORM. 

On  my  return  homeward  from  Hartford,  I  reached  Po)t?a7i(^ 
about  noon.  On  my  arrival,  I  was  at  once  informed  that 
Rev.  John  Bisbee,  the  newly  elected  Pastor  of  the  Univer- 
salist  society  in  that  city,  was  to  be  installed  into  that  office 
at  3  o'clock  p.  M.  of  that  day  ;  and  that  the  Committee  had 
assigned  to  me  the  delivery  of  the  Installation  Sermon. 
They  had  been  informed  of  my  absence,  and  had  written  to 
several  places  westward,  but  none  of  their  letters  had 
reached  me.  I  learned  that  Br.  Bisbee,  having  nearly  given 
up  all  hope  of  my  presence,  not  having  heard  from  me, 
commenced,  the  day  before,  preparing  himself  for  the  part 
assigned  me.  He,  nevertheless,  was  solicitous  that  I 
should  preach.  But  as  I  had  arrived  at  so  late  an  hour 
with  no  knowledge  of  the  arrangement,  nor  of  the  Instal- 
lation, and  was  of  course,  then,  when  the  time  of  service 
was  just  at  hand,  without  any  preparation,  I  respectfully 
declined ;  and  Br.  Bisbee  preached  a  good  sermon.  Br. 
Edward  Turner,  then  of  Portsmouth,  delivered  the  Charge  ; 
and  it  devolved  upon  me  to  offer  the  Installation  Prayer, 
and  deliver  the  Right  Hand  of  Fellowship. 


A.    D.    1827.  191 

THE   DEDICATION   AT   FAEMINGTON. 

September  Q>tli.  —  Agreeably  to  previous  assignnient  by 
the  appropriate  authority,  I  preached  the  Sermon  on  occa- 
sion of  the  Dedication  of  a  new  Universalist  Meeting 
House  in  Farmington.  Dedicatory  Prayer  by  Br.  Geo. 
Bates. 


INTRODUCTION   TO   MADAM   ANN   ROYAL. 

October,  Second  Sundciy.  —  The  celebrated  Madam  Royal, 
stopping  over  the  Sabbath  at  Dowe's  Hotel  in  Waterville, 
attended  our  meeting  in  the  forenoon,  and  was  introduced 
to  me  after  the  services.  She  had  travelled  much,  had 
spent  much  time  in  the  City  of  Washington,  and  also  in 
foreign  Capitals,  called  much  on  professional  men  in  the 
places  which  she  visited  ;  and  kept,  and  occasional!}'  pub- 
lished a  Journal,  which  she  called  her  "  Black  Book."  Her 
Black  Books  contained  very  pointed  and  pungent  observa- 
tions on  men  and  manners  which  she  noted  by  the  way. 
The  following  is  an  extract  from  her  notes  of  her  visit  at 
Waterville,  published  in  her  next  subsequent  issue  of  her 
Black  Book.  It  may  seem  indiscreet  in  me  to  copy  it 
here  :  —  but  —  pshaw,  it  belongs  to  the  life-story  :  —  let  my 
posterity  have  it. 

'  "In  the  forenoon,  on  Sunday,  went  to  hear  the  Universalist, 
one  of  the  first  orators  of  the  State.  He  was  a  young  man  in 
the  vigor  of  life ;  very  handsome  person,  and  very  engaging 
aspect.  He  spoke  like  one  who  set  a  just  value  on  the  indepen- 
dence and  liberty  of  speech,  and  the  freedom  of  religion.  His 
voice  was  fine,  and  language  pure  and  simple.  He  represented 
hj^ocrisy  and  empty  show  of  rehgion  in  their  tine  colors,  and  in 
the  most  undaunted  language." 


192  HEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

THE   DEDICATION   AT   READFIELD. 

By  assignment  agreeable  to  vote  of  the  proprietors,  of 
different  sects,  I  preached  the  Dedicatory  Sermon  at  the 
Consecration  of  a  new  Union  Meeting  House  in  Rcadfield, 
November  15th.  Rev.  Mr.  Williams,  Methodist,  offered  the 
Prayer  of  Dedication. 

THE   CLOSE   OF   THE  YEAR. 

I  copy  from  my  Journal :  — 

*'  December  olst.  —  An  evening  lecture  in  Bath, 
"So  another  year  has  passed  away;  and  its  last  evening  I 
spent  in  the  labor  which  is  my  pre-eminent  delight,  preaching 
the  gospel  to  the  wanting  children  of  men.  During  the  year 
just  past,  I  and  my  family  have  been  blessed  with  uniform 
health  ;  and  happiness  beyond  the  power  of  language  to  describe 
has  been  a  constant  inmate  of  our  home.  Love  to  one  another 
is  the  element  in  which  we  live  ;  nor  has  it  ever  been  darkened 
with  clouds,  or  perturbed  by  storms  from  the  pervasion  of  jar- 
ring elements.  The  highest  glory  of  each  has  been  the  doing 
of  something  to  promote  the  happiness  of  the  other ;  and  tlius 
we  have  been  under  the  government  of  what  may  be  justly 
termed  the  perfect  laic  of  liberty.  And  while  mutual  confidence 
and  mutual  love  have  yielded  us  a  constant  flow  of  purest  pleas- 
ures, those  pleasures  have  been  exalted  by  a  grateful  remem- 
brance and  constant  veneration  of  the  God  of  love,  whom  we 
trust  and  adore  as  the  Author  of  all  our  blessings.  So  even 
those  blessings  which  seem  to  be  the  fruit  of  our  own  virtues, 
we,  without  boasting,  ascribe  to  God  as  their  source,  humbly 
confessing  in  the  interrogatory  strain  of  the  apostle,  '  For  what 
have  we  that  we  did  not  receive  ?  ' 

"  With  regard  to  my  public  labors,  I  believe  that  their  effects 
have  been  visible  to  a  considerable  extent,  as  tending  to  the 
improvement  and  happiness  of  mankind." 


A.    D.    182S.  193 

A.  D.  1828. 

JANUARY   AND   FEBRUARY. 

Having  been  re-elected  b}^  the  citizens  of  Waterville  as 
their  RepresentatiA^e  in  the  State  Legislature  for  A.  D. 
1828,  I  spent  most  of  these  two  months  in  Portland,  where 
that  body  yet  held  its  sessions.  Enoch  Lincoln  was  Gov- 
ernor, Robert  P.  Dunlap  President  of  the  Senate,  and  John 
Ruggles  Speaker  of  the  House,  as  last  year.  Our  atten- 
tion was  chiefly  devoted  to  the  ordinary  affairs  of  legisla- 
tion in  a  new  and  growing  State,  relating  mostly  to  local 
interests. 

I  boarded  with  the  same  family  as  the  previous  winter, 
that  of  Capt.  John  M.  Knight.  During  the  session  of 
the  Legislature  I  preached  the  first  Sunday  in  Brunswick; 
the  second  in  Bath ;  the  third  in  Brunsivick ;  the  fourth  in 
Bath;  the  fifth  in  Brunswick;  and  the  sixth  in  Portland: — 
and  delivered  evening  lectures  in  Freeport,  Brunsivick^ 
Portland^  in  Freeport  again.  New  Gloucester,  and  Gray 
Corner. 

The  Legislature  adjourned  Feb.  21st.  On  the  morning 
of  the  2 2d  I  started  from  Portland  for  my  long  ago  prom- 
ised ministerial  visit  to  Maiden,  Mass.  Mrs.  Cobb, 
with  our  babe,  Eunice  Hale,  then  ten  months  old,  ac- 
companied me.  Being  desirous  that  she  should  be  with 
me  on  this  important  trial  visit  at  Maiden,  I  had  sent 
for  her  to  join  company  with  me  in  Portland  two  weeks 
previouslj^,  at  the  same  pleasant  home  where  we  boarded 
together  during  the  whole  Legislative  session  the  previous 
winter.  "We  went  to  Maiden  by  stage,  over  an  uncom- 
fortably muddy  road,  and  reached  the  point  of  our  destina- 
tion the  23d.  Our  regular  boarding  place  during  tliis  visit 
17 


194  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

was  Br.  Uriah  Chambcrlaiii's.  Our  calls,  and  evening 
social  sittings,  however,  were  very  extensively  distributed 
among  the  members  of  the  Parish. 

]\Iy  special  mission  at  this  juncture  was,  by  preaching  in 
the  Town  Hall  the  four  Sabbaths  preceding  the  annual 
Parish  Meeting,  to  educate  a  sufficient  additional  number 
of  the  members  of  the  Parish  into  the  light  and  love  of  the 
gospel  in  its  fulness,  to  procure  a  vote  at  that  meeting 
which  should  undo  the  wrong  committed  by  a  minority  last 
Summer  by  the  aid  of  foreign  votes,  and  permanently 
commit  the  Parish  to  the  interests  of  our  cause.  I  preached 
in  that  Hall,  to  large  and  deeplj^  interested  audiences,  the 
last  Sunday  in  February,  and  the  first  three  Sundays  in 
March. 

March  20t7i.  —  This  was  the  day  of  trial  between  the  two 
theological  divisions  of  Maiden's  First  Religious  Societj'. 
It  was  the  day  of  the  annual  Parish  Meeting.  There  had 
been  much  electioneering  —  probably  on  both  sides.  But 
there  had  been  so  much  fairness  and  honor  in  the  course 
of  the  Universalists,  at  the  time  of,  and  since,  the  strife 
of  last  Summer,  when  there  was  so  much  trick  and  injustice 
practised  by  their  opposers,  that  the}^  had,  to  a  great 
extent,  the  sympathy  of  the  candid  of  diflferent  religious 
societies  ;  and  the  opinion  seemed  to  be  prevalent  that  the 
better  justice  would  take  place,  and  the  greater  good  accrue 
to  the  town,  by  the  success  of  the  Universalists  in  electing 
their  officers,  and  obtaining  possession  of  the  Parish 
Church,  Parsonage  and  funds. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  a  messenger  came  to  my  room 
with  the  good  tidings  that  my  friends  had  succeeded  in 
the  election  of  their  candidates  to  officer  the  Parish 
throughout,  and  had  instructed  their  Committee  to  contract 
"vith  me  for  a  year  if  they  could  do  so  on  reasonable  terms. 


A.    D.    1S28.  195 

And  the  election  and  instruction  of  Committee  were  passed 
by  votes  of  30  majority  over  all  the  combined  forces  that 
could  be  mustered  in  the  opposition. 

In  the  evening,  the  Committee  called  upon  me,  and  com- 
municated the  desire  of  the  Parish  to  settle  me  as  their 
regular  Pastor.  The  question,  however,  of  a  permanent 
settlement,  could  not  be  legally  determined,  but  by  the 
action  of  the  Parish  at  a  meeting  called  with  an  article  in 
the  Warrant  specifying  that  item  of  business.  But,  antic- 
ipating such  subsequent  legal  action,  the  Committee, 
agreeably  to  instruction  as  above,  proposed  to  me  an 
engagement  for  one  year,  on  a  salary  of  $800,  with  the 
understanding  that  the  same  should  be  continued  from  year 
to  j'car,  until  it  should  be  changed  by  mutual  agreement. 
I  accepted  the  proposition,  providing  that  my  regular  ser- 
vices under  the  engagement  should  commence  on  the  third 
Sunday  in  April  proximo. 

It  cost  me  a  painful  effort  to  determine  on  a  removal 
from  my  native  State,  over  which  I  had  labored  so  exten- 
sively, and  in  which  I  had  contracted  so  numerous  friend- 
ships. And,  to  add  to  vny  embarrassments,  as  I  was  about 
leaving  Portland,  at  the  close  of  my  Legislative  term  of 
service  there,  on  this  trial  visit  to  Maiden,  I  received  an 
official  communication  from  the  Committees,  jointly,  of  the 
new  Universalist  societies  which  had  been  organized  under 
my  itinerant  labors  in  Brunswick,  Bath,  and  Bowdoinham, 
inviting  my  settlement  with  them,  and  proposing  terms 
which,  all  things  considered,  were  about  as  favorable  pe- 
cuniarily as  those  now  proposed  by  Maiden.  It  was  con- 
templated that  I  should  make  Brunswick  the  place  of  my 
residence  (a  most  pleasant  locality  indeed),  and,  preaching 
equal  portions  of  the  time  in  the  three  towns  respectively, 
have  but  eight  miles  to  ride  to  either  of  the  other  places. 


196  EEV.  SYLVAyrs   conn^  d.d. 

But  I  bad  for  six  months  been  under  an  engagement  to 
make  this  visit  to  Maiden  at  this  time,  with  the  understand- 
ing that  I  would  settle  in  the  Pastorate  over  this  Parish 
provided  all  things  should  be  made  acceptable  as  the 
result  of  the  trial.  Accordingly  I  was  not  at  liberty  to 
answer  my  friends  in  Maine,  until  I  had  made  the  prom- 
ised trial  in  Maiden ;  and  then,  the  result  bound  me  to 
return  a  negative  answer.  Nevertheless,  on  receiving  the 
commuuication  of  the  Committees  aforesaid,  I  did  write  my 
friends  in  Maiden,  asking  them  to  relinquish  my  prelimi- 
nary visit  there,  and  of  course  my  candidacy  for  settlement 
with  them  altogether.  I  expressed  a  preference,  all  things 
considered,  for  the  new  opportunity  in  my  native  State. 
But  those  Maiden  friends  tenaciously  clung  to  their  claim 
as  per  all  agreement ;  and  the  result  I  have  recorded 
above. 

With  regard  to  Watermlle^  while  my  friends  there  were 
desirous  of  continuing  their  arrangement  of  the  previous 
year,  for  my  services  three  fourths  of  the  time,  I  saw  that 
it  brought  too  heavy  a  responsibility  upon  a  few  leading 
members.  And  then,  I  felt  an  ardent  desire  to  be  so  sit- 
uated that  I  could  be  more  generally  at  home  with  m}^ 
family,  and  free  from  the  necessity  which  the  countless 
calls  imposed  upon  my  susceptible  and  yielding  nature,  of 
performing  so  much  extra  labor,  in  the  manner  of  lectures. 
How  illy  I  succeeded  in  this  latter  respect,  my  readers 
will  see  in  the  perusal  of  the  subsequent  pages  of  these 
records. 


IN   THE  PARISH  MEETING   HOUSE. 

I  tarried  in  Maiden  over  the  next  Sunday  after  the  annual 
meeting  aforesaid,  and  preached  for  the  first  time  in  the 


A.    D.    1SC8.  197 

substantial  old  "BRICK  CHURCH."  We  had  a  full 
meeting,  and  an  interesting  occasion  of  course. 

Then  we  returned  to  Waterville,  took  home  our  two  little 
boys,  Sylvanus  Jr.  and  Samuel  Tucker,  whom  we  found  in 
good  health  and  cheer  at  Br.  Blackwell's,  who  had  boarded 
them  during  Mrs.  Cobb's  absence  of  six  weeks,  since  she 
left  home  to  join  company  with  me  at  Portland,  preparatory 
to  attending  me  on  my  mission  to  Maiden  ;  and  busied  our- 
selves in  preparations  for  the  purposed  removal. 

April,  First  Sunday.  —  I  4elivered  mj''  Valedictory  to 
my  congi'egation  in  Waterville,  West  Meeting  House. 

April,  Second  Sunday.  —  The  same  painful  service  was 
performed  in  the  East  or  Village  congregation. 

These  were  affecting  occasions.  This  was  my  first  set- 
tled home  after  I  left  the  Parental  Mansion ;  I  had  been 
here  about  seven  years.  And  I  was  the  first  and  only 
Pastor  who  had  ever  been  with  this  society.  The  mutual 
attachments  between  us  were  exceedingly  strong. 

I  improved  this  week  in  removing  my  family  and  "  ef- 
fects "  to  Maiden.  My  furniture,  and  cow,  I  sent  by  ship 
to  Boston  ;  and  went  to  Maiden  with  my  family  by  stage. 
Sold  my  old  chaise  in  Waterville,  and  committed  my  horse 
to  the  care  of  Barker  Dingly  —  whom  I  had  engaged  to 
carry  on  the  Parsonage  farm  for  the  season  —  who  rode  to 
Maiden  upon  his  back  the  next  week. 

April  20th,  TJiird  Sunday.  —  I  occupied  the  Old  Brick 
Church  of  the  First  Parish  of  Ifalden,  Massachusetts,  as  the 
regular  PASTOR. 

IN  THE   PARSONAGE   HOUSE. 

April  22d.  —  Our  furniture  having  arrived  from  Water- 
ville, we  this  day  took  up  our  abode,  which  proved  to  be  a 
17* 


198  BEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

ten  years  abode,  in  the  Parsonage  House.  It  was  a  large 
house,  and  afforded  us  abundant  and  very  convenient  room. 
In  connection  with  this  house,  the  "Parsonage,"  so  called, 
comprised  a  barn,  and  about  twentj^  acres  of  land,  for  the 
care  and  cultivation  of  which  I  hired  a  young  man  six 
months  in  each  3^ear. 

At  this  point  I  will  jot  down  a  brief 

HISTORY   OF  THE  PARISH. 

This  Parish  was  organized,  with  the  town  of  Maiden,  in 
1649.  There  are  numbers  of  notable  names  in  the  line  of 
my  predecessors  in  the  pastoral  office  here,  among  which 
is  the  famous  Michael  Wigglesworth.  But  the  people,  as 
it  appears  from  the  Records,  were  alwaj^s  about  equally 
divided  between  the  two  wings  of  the  old  Congregational 
order,  the  Calvinists  and  Arminians.  Sometimes  one  of 
these  parties  would  succeed  in  the  election  of  a  Pastor  of 
its  sympathies,  and  sometimes  the  other.  This  division 
occasioned  frequent  changes  of  Pastors.  But  my  immedi- 
ate predecessor.  Rev.  Aaron  Green,  held  the  Pastorate  a 
long  while,  thirty-six  j^ears.  When  the  split  took  place 
between  the  two  wings,  the  Arminians  taking  the  name 
Unitarian,  Mr.  Green  kept  himself  quiet.  He  preached 
good  morality,  but  not  distinctive  doctrines.  His  s^^mpa- 
thies,  however,  were  commonly  understood  to  preponderate 
in  favor  of  the  Unitarian  School.  Consequently  the  Trini- 
tarian portion  of  the  church  became  dissatisfied,  and  given 
to  fault-finding.  This  rendered  Mr.  Green's  situation 
unpleasant,  and  induced  his  withdrawal.  The  Pastorate 
being  thus  made  vacant,  the  majority  of  the  Parishioners 
exercised  the  same  legal  and  moral  right  in  providing  for 
the  ministry  of  their  faith  and  settling  the  Pastor  of  tlieir 


A.    D.    1828.  199 

choice,  which  had  been  exercised  by  their  ancestors  from 
the  beginning. 

The  property  of  the  Parish  was  the  Parsonage  before 
described ;  the  Church,  a  substantial  and  commodious 
brick  edifice,  old-fashioned  in  its  interior  construction ; 
and  a  wood-lot,  from  which,  per  contract,  the  Committee 
sent  me  twenty  cords  of  wood  a  year,  reckoned  as  one 
hundred  dollars  of  my  salary. 

May  8tJi.  —  The  members  of  the  old  church  who  remained 
with  us,  and  other  friends,  met  at  my  house,  and  initiated 
measures  for  a  reorganization. 

THE   SOUTHERN   ASSOCIATION. 

June  Uli.  —  The  Southern  Association  met  in  Oxford, 
Mass.,  and  continued  in  session  two  days.  Sermons  were 
preached  on  the  occasion  by  M.  Rayner,  S.  Cobb,  J.  P. 
Fuller,  J.  Wood,  S.  Streeter  and  B.  Whittemore. 

LEGALIZATION  OF   THE   SETTLEMENT. 

In  my  record  of  the  action  of  the  Parish  meeting  of 
March  20th,  I  noted  the  fact  that  the  arrangement  of  the 
Committee  with  me  pursuant  to  vote  of  that  meeting  must, 
to  be  rendered  legal,  be  re-enacted,  or  ratified,  by  a  subse- 
quent meeting  called  by  a  Warrant  with  an  article  provid- 
ing for  this  business.  This  meeting  took  place  June  25th, 
having  been  delayed  until  the  malcontents  should  have 
generally  withdrawn  from  the  Parish  to  avoid  taxation,  and 
a  condition  of  comparative  quiet  should  have  obtained. 
This  course  of  procedure  was  a  happy  conception.  The 
meeting  was  harmonious,  and  the  business  was  transacted 
in  unity  of  spirit  and  purpose.     A  form  of  contract  between 


200  JiEV.    SYLVAXUS     COBB,    D.D. 

me  and  the  Parish  was  drawn  up  and  unanimously  passed, 
establishing  the  salary  as  formerly  proposed,  and  providing 
that  my  relation  as  Pastor  should  be  continued,  until  I 
should  resign  the  charge  ;  or  the  Parish,  b}'  a  two  thirds 
vote,  determine  my  dismissal ;  and  one  year  after  notice  by 
either  party  for  the  dissolution  of  the  connection. 

The  reason  for  provision  requiring  a  two  thirds  vote,  and 
a  3'ear's  notice,  was  this  ;  It  was  understood  that  members 
of  other  societies  in  the  town,  by  withdrawing  therefrom, 
fell  back  as  a  matter  of  course  into  the  Town  Parish,  hav- 
ing the  right  to  vote  in  its  business  meetings.  And  it  was 
known  to  be  the  purpose  of  the  malcontents  who  withdrew 
from  us  on  my  settlement  to  avoid  taxation,  b}^  attaching 
themselves  to  other  societies,  to  return  in  season  to  come 
in  at  our  next  annual  Parish  meeting,  and  bring  with  them 
a  host  of  allies  who  were  regular  members  of  other  socie- 
ties, and  carry  a  strong  vote  to  restore  the  Parish  to  Cal- 
vinist  dominion.  But,  happily  for  us,  the  law  had  been 
misunderstood  ;  and,  as  construed  by  the  Court,  it  proved 
our  protector. 

Yes,  verily;  —  At  the  March  Meeting  of  1829,  the 
seceders  came  in,  with  their  promiscuous  allies,  and  offered 
their  votes.  Our  Clerk,  Charles  Hill,  the  Iron  Man,  had 
his  "Check  List"  of  acknowledged  legal  voters;  and  he 
refused  votes  from  all  besides.  They  prosecuted  our  Clerk 
for  deprivation  of  a  legal  right.  But  the  Court  decided 
that,  in  the  spirit  of  Common  Law,  and  of  the  improved 
Statutes  of  Massachusetts,  the  First  religious  society  in  a 
town,  as  well  as  others,  had  the  power  of  self  protection 
by  the  enactment  of  rules  for  constituting  membership.  It 
proved  to  be  the  fact,  furthermore,  that  those  whose  votes 
were  refused  as  above,  had  not  Icgall}^  disconnected  them- 
selves from  the  societies  from  which  they  claimed  to  have 


A.   n.    1828.  201 

withdrawn.  But  our  enemies  continued  their  warfare  for 
about  four  years.  During  all  this  time  they  had  something 
in  Court  in  the  process  of  this  warfare  ;  in  all  they  insti- 
tuted about  twenty  suits  and  complaints,  and  failed  in 
them  all ! 

Then  they  gave  up.  The  Trinitarian  seceders  organized 
themselves  into  a  separate  society,  built  them  a  Church, 
and  settled  a  pastor,  and  there  was  a  settled  state  of  peace. 
It  was  the  general  sentiment  of  that  community,  in  which 
the  defeated  parties  seemed  to  participate,  that  the  Univer- 
salists  had  been  manly  and  honorable  in  their  course  of 
procedure  throughout,  and  that  the  permanent  settlement 
of  the  Parish  question  was  as  it  should  be.  During  the 
half  dozen  years  more,  of  my  residence  in  Maiden,  I  en- 
joyed the  most  pleasant  and  happy  relations  with  the 
people  of  all  religious  societies,  and  their  ministers. 

THAT  LECTURING  BUSINESS. 

I  have  said  that  one  of  the  considerations  which  in- 
duced me  to  remove  from  my  old  position  in  Maine,  to 
Maiden,  was  my  desire  for  freedom  from  tlie  necessity  of 
performing  so  much  extra  labor,  in  the  manner  of  lectures, 
&c.  But  the  same  enticements  soon  began  to  beset  my 
sympathetic  and  yielding  nature.  Early  in  this  month 
(June),  a  gentleman  from  Stoneham,  an  adjoining  town, 
called  upon  me  with  the  request  that  I  should  preach  a 
lecture  in  that  place  on  the  first  convenient  Sunday  even- 
ing. I  lectured  there,  in  a  large  School  House,  on  the 
evening  of  the  Fourth  Sunday  in  June  ;  and  continued  to 
lecture  in  that  place,  at  5  o'clock  p.  m.  in  the  long  da}- s, 
and  by  candle  light  in  the  season  of  short  days,  once  9 
fortnight,  for  about  seven  years.     Of  course  I  provided 


202  nEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

substitutes  sometimes.  In  the  succeeding  summer  I  com- 
menced lecturing  Sunday  evenings  in  South  Reading ;  and 
for  several  years  preached  there  on  Sumla}^  evenings  as 
often  as  I  could  find  time  besides  my  attention  to  Stone- 
ham  ;  and  to  delivering  a  third  discourse  to  my  Maiden 
congregation,  who  exacted  such  service  about  monthl3^ 
Indeed,  to  keep  the  work  up  with  the  demand  as  nearly  as 
possible,  I  sometimes  lectured  in  Stoneham  at  5  o'clock 
p.  M.,  and  then  in  South  Reading  at  candle-lighting,  the 
same  Sundays ;  and  at  other  times  in  Stoneham  at  5,  and 
in  my  own  Church  at  Maiden  at  8  in  the  evening ;  making, 
with  the  regular  service  at  home,  four  discourses  in  the 
day. 

Meanwhile  Br.  Charles  Hill,  our  Sexton  and  Parish 
Clerk,  who  retailed  fresh  fish  in  Maiden  w^hich  he  obtained 
at  Swampscot  Beach,  was  teasing  me  to  go  down  with  Mm 
and  preach  to  his  fishermen  some  week  evening.  This,  he 
said,  numbers  of  them  desired.  But  the  idea  of  preaching 
to  the  fishermen  of  Swampscot  on  a  week  evening  seemed 
to  me  like  "  stumping  it,"  and  I  gave  no  attentive  consid- 
eration to  the  matter.  But  at  length  I  instructed  my  friend 
Hill  to  say  to  his  fishermen,  that,  if  they  really  desired  a 
lecture,  and  would  appoint  a  week  evening  for  its  delivery, 
I  would  accompany  him  to  the  place,  and  accommodate 
them.  May  12th,  1831,  was  appointed,  and  I  was  on 
hand,  and  addressed  a  numerous  auditory  in  and  around  a 
large  School  House  in  Swampscot.  A  deep  interest  was 
excited  ;  the  shoe  makers  in  the  village  were  said  to  keep 
the  New  Testament  on  their  benches,  for  the  familiar  ref- 
erence which  was  called  for  by  the  religious  inquiries  which 
the  new  preaching  had  excited.  I  was  engaged  to  preach 
there  again  at  my  earliest  convenience,  and  continued  my 


A.  n.  1831.  203 

lectures  in  that  School  House  on  every  other  Thursday 
evening  till  December. 

October  V2th,  1831.  —  I  lectured  in  the  afternoon  in  Me- 
chanics' Hall,  Wood-End,  in  Lynn,  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
from  the  Swampscot  School  House.  This  appointment 
was  procured  by  Wood-End  people  who  attended  the 
Swampscot  lectures.  When  I  approached  the  Hall,  I  per- 
ceived that  the  stairs  leading  into  the  Hall,  which  were 
outside  of  the  building,  were  crowded  with  people ;  and 
quite  a  company  were  standing  around  the  foot  of  the 
stairs.  I  supposed  that  the  keeper  of  the  Hall  was  late 
with  his  key,  and  that  these  people  were  waiting  for  the 
opening  of  the  Hall  door.  But  I  found  that  the  Hall  was 
filled,  and  that  there  was  lack  of  room  inside  for  this  crowd 
which  had  attracted  my  attention.  Therefore  I  took  my 
stand  near  the  head  of  the  stairs,  that  I  might  address  both 
wings  of  my  auditory.  Arrangement  was  forthwith  made 
for  lectures  in  Mechanics'  Hall  Thursday  evenings  every 
other  week,  alternating  with  those  in  Swampscot ;  so  that 
they  had  between  them  a  lecture  every  week.  But  in 
January,  1832,  the  meetings  at  Swampscot  were  discon- 
tinued, and  our  friends  in  that  District  joined  in  with  those 
at  Wood-End,  where  they  were  continued  through  another 
year,  and  generally  on  Sunday  evenings.  I  arranged  to 
give  them  Sunday  CA-ening  services,  because  it  would 
greatly  accommodate  them,  and  the  field  was  so  promising 
of  the  yield  of  a  strong  and  permanent  society  shortly.  To 
effect  this  arrangement,  I  devolved  the  Stoneham  lectures 
upon  the  Pastor  at  Woburn,  Rev.  D.  D.  Smith. 

January,  1833. — Our  Lynn  lectures  were  removed  to 
the  Town  Hall,  a  commodious  building  near  the  Head  of 
the  Common.  Many  from  the  Common  had  attached  them- 
selves to  our  meetings  at  Wood-End  ;  and  this  change  of 


204  nEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

location  for  tlie  services  both  furnished  a  much  more  con- 
venient room,  and  better  accommodated,  as  to  distance, 
our  friends  in  all  parts  of  the  town. 

And  now,  the  ultimate  purpose  of  this  mission  of  mine 
was  soon  accomplished,  in  the  organization  of  a  strong 
permanent  society  of  earnest  working  members,  and  the 
settlement  of  a  resident  Pastor.  Early  in  March  the 
society  contracted  with  Rev.  J.  C.  Waldo  to  labor  with 
them  in  that  capacity  ;  and  he  forthwith  entered  upon  the 
work,  and  made  Ljmn  his  family  abode. 

Such  is  the  history  of  the  Origin  of  the  First  Universal- 
iST  Society  in  Lynn. 


LYNN   SECOND   SOCIETY. 

The  First  Society  prospered,  and  soon  erected  a  commo- 
dious Church  at  Wood-End.  This  was  a  favorable  local- 
ity for  that  Church,  as  the  Swampscot  people  were  thereby 
accommodated ;  and  there  were  then  more  Universalist 
families-  in  that  District,  than  in  West  Lynn,  or  the 
Common. 

But,  in  process  of  time,  that  process  being  but  three 
years,  believers  had  so  multiplied  in  the  West  part  of 
Lynn,  that  they  conceived  the  idea  of  a  Second  Society. 
They  wrote  me  on  the  subject,  soliciting  from  me  a  few 
lectures  to  give  them  a  start.  I  yielded  assent,  of  course, 
and  preached  the  first  discourse  for  the  nursing  into  being 
a  Second  Universalist  Society  in  Lynn,  on  the  evening  of 
the  Second  Sunday  in  February,  1836.  The  meeting  was 
held  in  the  building  which  was  the  former  Baptist  Meeting 
House,  in  a  hall  constructed  by  the  putting  in  of  a  middle 
floor,  and  making  a  pleasant  and  convenient  upper  audience 
room.     At  the  close  of  this  service  the  brethren  voted  that 


A.    D.    1828-36.  205 

they  would   proceed   forthwith   to   the  organization  of  a 
Second  Universalist  Society  in  Lynn. 


THE   SLIGHT  BREAK-DOWN. 

February,  1836,  Fourth  Sunday.  —  On  this  evening  I 
preached  for  the  regularly  organized  Second  Universalist 
Society  in  Lynn.  We  met  in  the  Hall  or  audience  room  of 
the  old  Baptist  Church,  before  described.  The  Hall  was 
crowded.  Every  seat  was  occupied,  and  ever}^  square  foot 
of  standing  room  upon  the  floor ;  and  the  door  and  stair- 
ways. As  I  was  about  to  commence  services,  the  floor  of 
the  centre  of  the  Hall  settled  a  foot  or  more,  causing  a 
general  pressure  of  the  people  towards  the  doors  for  egress. 
I  sprang  to  one  of  the  doors,  and  raised  my  voice  to  hush 
the  people,  lest  a  general  rush  down  the  stairs  should  injure 
many.  I  succeeded  in  moderating  their  movement,  so  that 
all  passed  out  safely.  By  invitation  of  a  member  of  the 
First  Society's  Committee,  we  marched  to  their  Meeting 
House,  and  conducted  our  services  there. 

It  was  found  by  examination  the  next  morning,  that  the 
settling  of  the  Hall  floor  was  from  the  giving  way  of  a  sill 
of  the  lower  floor,  which  was  about  two  feet  from  the 
ground,  on  which  rested  a  pillar  supporting  the  floor  occu- 
pied by  my  audience. 

This  new  society  forthwith  provided  itself  with  regular 
Sabbath  services,  and  soon  purchased  a  respectable  Meet- 
ing House  on  the  Common,  nearly  opposite  the  Lynn 
Hotel ;  and  it  has  prospered  under  a  succession  of  worthy 
Pastors.  It  had,  from  the  beginning,  the  good  will  of  the 
First  Society ;  and  the  two  bodies  have  ever  worked  in 
mutual  harmony  and  brotherly  love. 

Meanwhile  the  few  Universalists  in  South  Danvers  were 
18 


206  nnv.  sylvaxus   coBDy  d.d. 

indulging  tlie  thought  of  procuring  a  few  lectures  prepara- 
tor}^  to  the  gathering  of  a  society  and  procuring  regular 
religious  instruction  in  the  faith  of  "  the  glorious  gospel 
of  the  blessed  God."  The  Pastor  of  the  Universalist 
Society  in  Salem,  at  that  time,  held  such  relations  with  the 
Unitarian  minister  of  South  Dan  vers,  that  he  declined 
giving  his  aid  to  the  gathering  of  a  Universalist  Societ}^  in 
that  place.  Then  my  services  were  called  for  in  aid  of  the 
noble  design.  "  Immediately  I  conferred  not  with  flesh 
and  blood,"  but  3'ielded  to  the  call  from  this  people  also, 
that  I  might  preach  unto  them  the  gospel  of  peace. 

February^  1832,  Fourth  Sunday.  —  In  the  evening,  I 
delivered  a  lecture  in  Dr.  Shedd's  Hall,  South  Danvers. 
The  Hall  was  densely  crowded. 

I  held  but  few  more  meetings  there,  before  a  society  was 
organized.  And,  in  the  beginning  of  1833,  Br.  John  Moore 
was  settled  with  them  in  the  regular  Pastoral  relation. 

Saugus,  too,  for  several  of  these  years,  came  in  for  often 
lectures  ;  —  during  1833,  for  one  every  fortnight. 

And  now  that  I  am  on  the  project  of  getting  away  from 
any  considerable  extra  labor  by  moving  from  Maine  to 
Massachusetts,  I  will  add  here,  though  it  is  spreading  some- 
what, that,  during  these  same  j-ears,  Epping,  Kingston 
Plain,  East  Kingston,  Southampton,  Plaistow,  Hampstead, 
Sandown,  Danville  and  Amoskeag  Falls  (now  Manchester), 
N.  H.,  pressed  upon  me  with  requests  for  several  Sundays' 
preaching,  some  more  and  others  less,  each  season.  So 
also  did  West  Newbury,  and  Franklin,  Mass. ;  —  and  nu- 
merous other  places  far  through  the  couutr}^,  for  occasion- 
ally a  single  Sabbath.  And  quite  generally  some  lecturing, 
besides  the  regular  Sabbath  services,  must  needs  be  per- 
formed when  out  in  those  various  fields  of  labor. 

My  soul  travailed  for  those  numerous  children  of  my 


A.  D.  182S-1836.  207 

Father,  far  and  near,  hungering  and  thirsting  after  righte- 
ousness. But  here  I  was,  a  settled  Pastor,  in  charge  of  an 
important  Parish,  whose  interests  I  could  not  innocently 
neglect.     What  should  1  do  ? 

This  I  did  :  —  I  made  my  direct  exchanges  with  the  able 
settled  pastors  within  ordinary  exchanging  distance  com- 
paratively far  between ;  and  as  they  desired  a  Sabbath's 
appointment  conveniently  near,  occasionally,  that  they 
might  accommodate  a  favorite  minister  from  abroad  by 
giving  him  the  supply  of  their  pulpit  at  the  same  time,  I 
was  on  the  lookout  for  these  opportunities,  and  thus  fre- 
quently obtained  the  services  of  one  of  those  pastors  for  my 
congregation,  when  I  went  out  to  some  one  of  these  tran- 
sient appointments.  This  was  the  same  to  my  people  at 
home  as  if  I  had  provided  the  able  preacher  for  the  day  by 
regular  or  direct  exchange.  And  when  this  recourse  failed 
me  in  the  arrangement  of  mj^  supplies,  I  alwaj^s  found  good 
and  acceptable  preachers  disengaged  for  the  time,  whom  I 
could  place  in  my  pulpit  to  the  edification  of  my  people. 
But,  notwithstanding  I  devoted  so  great  amount  of  labor  to 
the  gathering  of  new  societies,  and  the  extension  of  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  over  a  wide  area,  I  so  economized  that, 
during  the  ten  years  of  my  pastoral  relation  in  Maiden,  I 
was  at  home  with  my  society  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  five 
hundred  and  twenty  Sundays.  I  include  in  the  list  at  home, 
several  Sundays  on  which  I  exchanged  with  neighboring 
ministers  half  of  the  day  ;  in  which  cases  I  usually  preached 
in  my  own  desk  an  evening  lecture,  making  two  discourses 
at  home.  In  the  portion  of  Sundays  absent  I  also  include 
the  three  or  four  which  I,  as  per  fixed  rule  of  duty,  appro- 
priated each  year  to  my  summer  vacation  on  a  visit  to  my 
mother,  and  other  friends,  in  Maine.  On  these  Sundays  I 
supplied  my  desk  at  home  at  my  own  expense,  not  having 


208  liEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,   D.D. 

a  summer  vacation  voted  me  by  the  Parish,  as  our  Pastors 
have  in  later  j^ars.  In  the  portion  of  my  Sabbaths  away, 
I  also  include  those  over  -which  I  was  necessarily  kept  away 
in  attendance  on  distant  Conventions  and  Associations. 
Furthermore,  to  the  account  of  my  home  labors  I  will  add, 
that  I  uniformly  held  a  service  and  delivered  a  discourse, 
on  Fast,  Thanksgiving  and  Christmas  days.  None  of  these 
services  should  in  later  j^ears  have  been  dispensed  with  in 
our  congregations.  Fast  and  Thanksgiving  Days  afford  a 
faithful  Pastor  a  signal  opportunity  for  special  and  pointed 
labor  on  subjects  which  essentially  concern  the  social  and 
political  interests,  especiall}^  in  their  moral  bearings,  of  the 
State  and  the  Republic. 

THE  INSTALLATION. 

July  SOtJi,  1828. — This  day  I  was  publicly  installed  as 
Pastor  of  the  Fli^st  Religious  ChurcJi  and  Society  in  3fal- 
den^  Massaclmsetts.  As  the  Parish  meeting  for  the  legal- 
ization of  my  settlement  had  been  delaj^ed  to  June  25th, 
that  the  jarring  elements  might  become  comparatively 
quiet  (see  page  199),  so  the  Installation  was  put  off  another 
month,  that  the  senseless  excitement  produced  b}'  the 
former  transaction  among  the  Trinitarian  seceders  might 
have  time  to  expend  itself. 

The  Installing  Council  met  in  the  large  parlor  of  Wm. 
Barrett,  Esq.,  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.,  and  elected  Rev.  Hosea 
Ballon  Moderator.  A  request  in  writing  was  handed  to 
the  Moderator,  signed  by  Charles  Lewis,  Esq.,  the  lawyer 
who  had  led  the  opposition,  Bernard  Green,  Esq.,  and 
Thomas  Odiorne,  asking  permission  to  come  before  the 
Council,  and  state  objections  to  their  proceeding  with  the 
Installation.     And  they  had  hired  a  law^^er,  Parker,   of 


A.    D.    1828.  209 

Cliarlestown,  who  was  waiting  at  the  Inn  to  present  him- 
self before  the  Council  in  aid  of  the  petitioners.  But  the 
Moderator,  in  behalf  of  the  Council,  sent  answer  to  the 
petitioners,  that  the  Parish  Records  furnished  them  with 
all  necessary  information  in  the  premises,  and  they  had  no 
occasion  for  their  services.  So  these  adversaries  were 
foiled  in  their  scheme  for  getting  upon  the  floor  of  the 
Council,  and  occupying  the  time  which  was  assigned  for 
the  public  services  of  Installation.  They  went  their  way 
discomfited,  and  troubled  us  no  more. 

When  the  Council  had  completed  their  arrangements,  a 
procession  was  formed  in  front  of  Br.  Barrett's  house,  and 
marched  in  due  order  to  the  Church,  headed  by  a  fine  band 
of  martial  music.  The  air  was  serene,  the  music  mellif- 
luous, and  the  scene  beautiful.  The  church  was  filled,  and 
the  services  were  conducted  in  the  following  order  :  — 

1.  Voluntary  by  the  choir,  "  TFAo  can  express  the  nohle 
acts  of  the  Lord."  2.  Original  Plymn.  3.  Introductory 
Praj-er  by  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou,  of  Boston.  4.  Anthem, 
"  Rejoice  in  the  Lord.''  5.  Sermon  b}^  Rev.  Sebastian 
Streeter,  of  Boston,  from  2  Tim.  ii.  24,  25  :  "  And  the  ser- 
vant of  the  Lord  must  not  strive;  hut  he  gentle  unto  cdl  7aen, 
apt  to  teach,  patient ;  in  meekness  instructing  those  that  oppose 
themselves;  if  God  peradventure  will  give  them  repentance 
to  the  acJtnoicledging  of  the  truth."  6.  Installing  Prayer  by 
Rev.  Thomas  Whittemore,  of  Cambridgeport.  7.  Charge 
by  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou,  of  Boston.  8.  Right  Hand  of  Fel- 
lowship by  Rev.  Russell  Streeter,  of  Watertown.  9.  Con- 
cluding Prayer  by  Rev.  Walter  Balfour,  of  Charlestown. 

10.  Anthem,    "  The  Great  Jehovah  is  our  awful  theme." 

11.  Benediction  by  the  Pastor  elect. 

The  following  is  the  original  Hymn,  composed  for  the 
occasion  by  the  Pastor  elect ;  — 
18* 


210  nEV.     SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

Tvi^E— Old  Hundred. 

Great  God,  before  thy  throne  we  bow, 

To  Thee  we  raise  the  fervent  prayer; 
Do  thou  on  us  thy  grace  bestow, 

And  make  us  all  thy  tender  care.  ^ 

Him  thou  dost  place  as  Pastor  here, 

Wilt  thou,  0  Saviour,  deign  to  bless: 
"With  firmness  and  with  godly  fear 

May  he  declare  thy  truth  and  grace. 

May  no  vain  pride  his  heart  possess, 

To  wrest  thy  word,  thy  truth  conceal ; 
Be  thou  his  strength  and  righteousness. 

And  with  thy  love  his  bosom  fill. 

And  on  this  people,  gracious  Lord, 

Pour  down  thy  blessings  from  above ; 
Cause  ev'ry  heart  to  love  thy  word. 

And  in  thy  paths  their  footsteps  move. 

May  mutual  kindness  live  and  reign. 

Meekness  and  faith,  and  holy  zeal. 
Thy  truth  to  spread,  thy  cause  maintain, 

And  ail  the  works  of  love  fulfil. 

We  pray,  0  God  —  and  we  believe; 

We've  seen  thy  kindness  all  our  days. 
And  long  as  we  existence  have. 

We'll  celebrate  thy  wondrous  praise. 

As  this  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  seasons  of  my 
life ;  and  as  Father  Ballon  stands  in  history  as  one  of  the 
chief  founders  and  pillars  of  the  Universalist  denomination  ; 
and  as  I  enjoyed  the  most  happy  relation  and  familiar  in- 
tercourse with  him  during  alf  the  remaining  24  years  of  his 
life  ;  and  as  the  "  Charge  "  is  of  peculiar  value  in  itself;  I 
copy  it  here,  from  the  Trumpet  and  Universalist  Magazine 
of  August  2,  1828. 


A.   D.    1828.  211 

DELIVERY  OF  SCRIPTURES  AND  CHARGE. 

BY  KEV.   H.   BALLOU. 

*'Br.  Cobb,. —  Agreeably  to  a  usage,  long  established,  and  in 
compliance  with  the  will  of  the  ecclesiastical  council,  officiating 
on  this  occasion,  I  present  you  the  holy  scriptures. 

"  By  this  act  we  signify  to  the  world  that  we  regard  this  vol- 
ume as  our  guide  in  the  discharge  of  ministerial  duties.  In 
these  writings  we  learn  the  doctrine  which  we  are  bound  to 
preach.  This  volume  also  furnishes  the  best  possible  directions 
in  which  to  communicate  the  divine  truths  which  it  contains,  and 
how  to  combat  and  overthrow  the  errors  of  mankind,  which 
array  themselves  against  the  wisdom  of  God,  as  revealed  in  these 
writings.  Their  usefulness  also  extends  to  the  most  valuable 
instructions  regarding  our  duty  to  our  God,  as  moral  accountable 
beings,  also  our  duty  to  each  other,  and  our  duty  to  ourselves ; 
and  in  this  its  utility  can  never  be  too  highly  appreciated. 

*'  The  divine  goodness  towards  man  is  the  foundation  of  the 
religion  we  profess.  The  goodness  of  God,  of  which  so  much  is 
spoken  in  the  scriiDtures  of  the  Old  Testament,  in  those  of  the 
New,  is  called  grace.  This  goodness  or  grace  is  entirely  free; 
requiring  no  merit  in  us  as  a  condition  by  which  we  may  secure 
it.  It  flows  spontaneously  from  the  unchangeable  mind  of  our 
heavenly  Father,  and  does  not  wait  to  be  called  forth  by  any  act 
or  duty  required  of  us.  The  supposition  that  the  kindness  of 
God  is  turned  towards  us  by  our  obedience  to  his  requirements, 
is  an  error  of  most  injurious  tendency,  as  it  entirely  shuts  from 
our  sight  the  ample  fulness  of  the  divine  goodness,  of  which 
these  requirements  are  abundant  proof.  Our  duty  to  God  is 
founded  on  his  goodness,  and  our  obedience  is  the  effect  of  his 
grace. 

"Impartiality  is  one  of  the  distinguishing  attributes  of  the 
goodness  of  God,  and  of  the  general  theme  of  doctrine  taught  in 
the  scriptures.  '  The  Lord  is  good  to  all,  and  his  tender  mercies 
are  over  all  his  works.' —  '  The  wisdom  that  is  from  above  is  first 
pure,  then  peaceable,  gentle  and  easy  to  be  entreated,  full  of 
mercy  and  good  fruits,  without  partiality,  and  without  hypoc- 
risy.'   Both  the  freeness  and  impartiality  of  the  divine  goodness 


212  EEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

are  most  clearly  set  forth  in  the  instructions  given  by  the  blessed 
Saviour  in  his  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  '  Ye  have  heard  that  it 
hath  been  said,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  and  hate  thine 
enemy :  but  I  say  unto  you,  Love  j'our  enemies,  bless  them  that 
curse  you,  do  good  to  them  that  hate  you,  and  pray  for  them 
that  dcspitefully  use  you  and  persecute  you ;  that  ye  may  be  the 
children  of  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  ;  for  he  maketh  his 
sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the 
just  and  on  the  unjust.  For  if  ye  love  them  that  love  you,  what 
reward  have  ye  ?  Do  not  even  the  publicans  the  same  ?  And  if 
ye  salute  j^our  brethren  only,  what  do  ye  more  than  others  ?  Do 
not  even  the  publicans  so?  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as 
your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect.'  That  partiality  which 
is  a  prominent  characteristic  of  the  creeds  of  men,  which  origi- 
nated in  wisdom  earthly  and  sensual,  has  no  connection  with  the 
doctrine  of  the  divine  goodness  ;  but  is  its  entire  opposite. 

"  The  UNCHANGEABLENESS  of  the  divinc  goodness  is  another 
most  important  attribute  of  the  doctrine  which  the  scriptures 
teach.  'I  am  the  Lord:  I  change  not;  therefore,  ye  sons  of 
Jacob  are  not  consumed  —  Every  good  gift,  and  every  perfect 
gift,  is  from  aboVe,  and  cometh  down  from  the  Father  of  lights, 
with  whom  is  no  variableness,  neither  shadow  of  turning.' 

"That  the  blessed  hope,  which  the  gospel  brings  to  the 
guilty,  may  be  to  the  soul  an  anchor  sure  and  steadfast,  not  to 
be  shaken  or  weakened  by  the  terrors  with  which  a  due  punish- 
ment of  our  sins  might  justly  alarm  us,  the  scriptures  furnish 
assurance  that  '  the  Lord  will  not  cast  off  forever ;  but  though  he 
cause  grief,  yet  will  he  have  compassion  according  to  the  multi- 
tude of  his  mercies.  For  he  doth  not  afflict  willingly  nor  grieve 
the  children  of  men.  — For  whom  the  Lord  loveth  he  chasteneth, 
and  scourgeth  every  son  whom  he  receiveth.' 

"And,  finally,  that  the  fading  beauties  and  short-lived  enjoy- 
ments of  this  transitory  existence,  should  not  be  succeeded  by 
the  gloom  of  despair,  the  blessed  Saviour  of  man  has  brought 
life  and  immortality  to  light  through  the  gospel;  and  given 
assurance,  that '  As  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be 
made  alive.'  In  this  blessed  assurance  the  believer  in  Christ 
embraces  his  Father  in  heaven  as  his  unchangeable  friend ;  he 
embraces  the  Lord  Jesus  as  the  first  fruits  of  them  who  sleep, 
and  all  mankind  as  heirs  with  himself  of  that  inheritance  which 


A.   D.    1828.  213 

is  incorruptible,  and  undefilecl,  and  which  fadeth  not  away,  re- 
served in  heaven  for  us.  —  In  this  assurance,  with  deep  humil- 
ity and  gratitude,  we  '  bow  the  knee  unto  the  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of  whom  the  whole  family  in  heaven  and 
earth  is  named; '  and,  in  full  survey  of  the  desolations  of  mor- 
talit}^  are  emboldened  to  sing  the  triumphant  song :  '  O  death ! 
where  is  thy  sting  ?  O  grave  !  where  is  thy  victory  ?  The  sting 
of  death  is  sin,  and  the  strength  of  sin  is  the  law.  But  thanks 
be  to  God  which  giveth  us  the  victory,  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.' 

"By  keeping  these  prominent  attributes  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
scriptures  constantly  in  view,  the  minister  of  the  word  will  be 
enabled  to  avoid  running  into  dangerous  errors,  and  to  enjoy  a 
light  which  will  assist  him  in  rightly  dividing  the  word  of  truth ; 
in  maintaining  and  defending  it  in  opposition  to  those  doctrines, 
by  which  it  has  been  perverted,  on  the  one  hand ;  and  against 
the  sophistry  of  open  infidelity  on  the  other. 

"You  are,  therefore,  charged  to  regard  the  plain  and  clear 
testimony  of  the  w^ritten  word,  which  is  always  capable  of  being 
illustrated  by  the  works  of  creation  and  providence,  as  your 
guide;  carefully  avoiding  those  metaphysical  speculations,  in 
which  too  many  of  our  school-men  have  lost  sight  of  all  reality, 
and  embraced  the  wildest  and  most  extravagant  chimeras  which 
have  ever  dishonored  the  cause  of  religion,  or  blighted  the  plants 
of  heavenly  virtue. 

"My  brother,  you  are  charged  to  fix  your  eye  directly  on  the 
Lord  Jesus.  Such  doctrine  as  he  preached,  do  you  preach. 
Such  methods  as  he  used,  to  combat  and  overthrow  the  errors 
of  his  time,  do  you  employ  to  disprove  the  same  errors  which 
abound  at  present,  under  the  name  of  Christianity.  Let  him  be 
your  pattern.  It  would  have  been  easy  for  the  divine  teacher, 
had  he  been  disposed,  to  have  accommodated  his  preaching  to 
the  prejudices  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  have  avoided  their  disi^leasure.  And  this  he  would  unques- 
tionably have  done,  had  he  not  known  that  it  would  have  been 
at  the  expense  of  truth.  He  might  just  as  well  have  espoused 
the  doctrines  by  which  the  Jewish  church  was  defiled,  as  to  have 
preached  anything  else,  in  such  a  way  as  neither  to  disjDrove 
their  errors  on  the  one  hand,  nor  establish  better  sentiments  on 
the  other. 


214  liEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

"Constantly  keep  in  mind  the  command  of  the  Saviour  to  an 
apostle  :  '  Feed  my  sheep/  If  the  command  had  been  to  terrify 
and  harass,  to  divide  and  scatter,  the  fearful  and  gloomy  hor- 
rors, which  were  engendered  in  vitiated  imaginations,  in  the 
dark  ages,  concerning  the  tortures  which  a  God  of  wrath  will 
inflict  in  a  future  state,  would  be  suitable  materials  for  perform- 
ing such  cruel  labors ;  but  if  to  feed  the  people  with  knowledge 
and  understanding  is  the  duty  of  the  public  servants  of  the  great 
Shepherd,  then  let  them  carefully  avoid  those  wild  imagina- 
tions, and  render  themselves  acquainted  with  those  vast  stores 
of  the  bread  of  life,  which  a  bountiful  God  has,  in  infinite  mercy, 
provided  for  mankind  of  every  nation  under  heaven. 

"  You  are  charged,  my  brother,  to  keep  in  mind  the  admoni- 
tions of  the  divine  Master  to  the  disciples,  and  carefully  com- 
municate to  the  people  of  your  care  that  light  with  which  your 
own  understanding  has  been  and  still  may  be  illuminated  ;  that 
you  may  justly  use  the  words  of  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  :  '  I 
have  not  shunned  to  declare  unto  you  all  the  counsel  of  God.' 

"  In  your  sermons,  treat  on  such  subjects  as  may  best  suit  the 
condition  of  your  peoj^le.  Let  instruction  in  doctrine  occupy  a 
reasonable  portion  of  your  public  labors.  Use  all  due  means  to 
discover  the  boauty  and  excellency  of  truth,  and  contrast  them 
with  the  contrary  qualities  of  error.  With  a  skilful  hand  remove 
the  guise  with  which  the  craftsmen  of  the  day  clothe  their 
impious  doctrines,  and  present  hypocrisy  in  its  odious  character. 

"  The  prevailing  vices  of  the  times  are  disorders  which  demand 
the  attention  of  the  moral  physician.  In  compassion  to  man, 
with  good-will  to  society,  use  all  possible  persuasion  to  draw  the 
old  and  the  young  from  those  habits  and  indulgences  which 
degrade  human  nature,  and  blast  all  the  rational  enjoyments  of 
life.  To  do  this,  carefully  shun  the  preposterous  practice  of 
allowing  that  the  vicious  are  the  most  happy  in  the  j^resent  life. 
This  is  the  only  deception  tliat  gives  force  to  temptation.  The 
language  of  her  who  allures  is,  *  Stolen  waters  are  sweet,  and 
bread  eaten  in  secret  is  pleasant ; '  but  did  the  tempted  know, 
*that  the  dead  are  there,  and  that  her  guests  are  in  the  depths 
of  hell,'  he  would  resist  the  charm,  and  parry  the  dart  aimed  at 
his  life.  The  history  of  centuries  ^Droves,  beyond  controversy, 
that  the  unknown  terrors  of  an  unknown  hell,  in  an  unknown 
world,  have  never  secured  man  from  the  allurements  of  sin,  nor 


A.    D.    1828.  215 

inclined  him  to  the  love  of  holiness.  In  your  persuasions  to 
virtue,  and  in  your  dissuasions  from  vice,  respect  the  sacred 
word,  and  confine  yourself  to  known  realities ;  showing,  that 
while  the  one  flows  with  the  milk  and  honey  of  peace  and  joy, 
the  other  yields  the  wormwood  and  the  gall  of  vexation  and  woe. 
And  to  add  weight,  and  to  give  effect  to  your  arguments  and 
precepts,  stand  forth  yourself  an  example  worthy  of  applause 
and  imitation. 

**  To  such  as  are  afflicted  and  to  those  who  mourn,  give 
largely  of  your  sympathies,  and  refuse  not  to  taste  the  cup  of 
your  j)eople's  sorrow ;  nor  yet  forget  to  administer  the  consola- 
tions of  the  gospel,  which  make  even  the  dying  victors  through 
him  who  loved  us  and  gave  himself  for  us. 

"That  all  the  duties  of  your  office  maybe  seasonably  and 
properly  discharged,  it  is  indispensable,  dear  brother,  that  the 
whole  cause  and  work,  with  which  you  are  now  charged,  should 
engross  the  affections  and  love  of  your  heart.  Love  to  God, 
love  to  the  Saviour's  name,  love  to  divine  truth  and  all  the  vir- 
tues which  adorn  it,  and  love  to  mankind,  will  enable  you  to 
fight  a  good  fight,  to  keep  the  faith,  and  to  finish  your  course 
with  triumphant  joy." 

How  far  I  may  have  succeeded  to  conform  the  matter 
and  manner  of  my  ministry,  and  the  conduct  of  my  life,  to 
the  wise  injunctions  of  this  able  Charge  of  the  venerable 
man  of  God,  many  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of 
the  Christian  public  have  had  opportunities  for  forming  an 
opinion.  In  my  conscious  weakness  I  have  looked  to  God 
for  aid ;  and  have  endeavored  to  promote  the  welfare  of 
mankind.  The  Lord  forgive  my  errors,  and  bless  me 
abundantly  with  the  breathings  of  his  spirit  in  my  further 
efforts  to  do  what  work  remains  for  me  to  perform  on 
earth. 

August^  1828.  —  I  spent  nearly  all  of  this  month  on  a 
journey  to  Maine,  and  a  route  through  AYaterville,  where 
I  spent  some  time  at  settling  up  old  affairs  ;  and  via  Syd- 
ney, Readfield,  Livermore,  Turner,  preaching  by  the  way ; 


216  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

Peru,  Rumford,  Norwii}', — visiting  relatives,  and  preach- 
ing also,  as  it  was  m}^  wont  to  do. 

THE   ROCKINGHAM  ASSOCIATION. 

On  niy  way  home  I  came  to  Kingston,  N.  H.,  just  in 
time  to  be  present  at  the  Rockingham  Association,  which 
was  organized  mostly  by  Boston  ministers  as  a  missionary 
instrumentality,  Aug.  25,  1824.  This  was  to  me  an 
unexpected  entertainment.  Sermons  were  preached  by 
Brs.  H.  Ballou,  2d,  S.  Cobb,  T.  Whittemore,  J.  Wood, 
and  H.  Ballou.     Mrs.  Cobb  accompanied  me  on  this  tour. 

During  the  remainder  of  this  eventful  j'ear,  I  was  occu- 
pied with  the  regular  duties  of  my  ministerial  office,  in 
their  diversified  bearings  heretofore  described.  I  will 
barel^^  note,  as  I  pass,  that  my  Thanksgiving  Sermon, 
Nov.  27th,  was,  by  general  request,  committed  to  print  in 
pamphlet  form.  The  text  was  Gal.  v.  1  :  "  Stand  fast, 
therefore^  in  the  liberty  whereivith  Christ  hath  made  us  free, 
atid  be  not  entangled  again  with  the  yoke  of  bondage'* 

A.  D.   1829. 

AND    YET    ANOTHER   MEMBER    OF    THE    HOUSEHOLD. 

January  17th,  1829.  —  Our  fourth  child,  and  third  son, 
was  born  unto  us  to-day.  All  well.  On  July  12th  (Sun- 
daj'),  we  publicly  dedicated  this  infant  son  by  the  name 
Ebenezer. 

INTRODUCTORY   AT   AMOSKEAG,   N.  H. 

February,  1829,  —  First  Sunday.— 1  delivered  three 
discourses  in  a  new  hall  in  Amoskeag,  provided  by  the 


A.    D.    1829.  217 

Amoskeag  manufacturing  Company  as  a  Chapel  for  relig- 
ious worship.  This  was  the  first  occupancy  of  the  Chapel 
b}^  a  Universalist  clergj-man  ;  and  it  was  procured  by  the 
agency  of  Dr.  Oliver  Dean,*  who  was  the  Agent  of  the 
Manufacturing  Corporation.  The  meetings  were  supported 
by  subscriptions  from  the  Overseers  and  Operatives  gen- 
erally, each  subscriber  designating  the  denomination  to 
w^hich  his  or  her  subscription  should  be  appropriated.  I 
preached  there  again  the  next  September,  and  had  the 
happiness  to  learn  that  the  interest  in  our  cause  was  stead- 
ily increasing.  And  the  same  favorable  reports  cheered 
me,  as  I  took  my  turns  with  others  of  our  ministering 
brethren  subsequently,  in  the  occupancy  of  this  Chapel. 

In  a  few  years  the  Amoskeag  Co.  erected  a  magnificent 
row  of  factories  on  the  bank  of  the  river  (Merrimac),  a 
mile  and  a  half  below  the  Falls,  carrying  down  the  water 
power  by  a  canal  from  the  Falls ;  and  another  Corpora- 
tion, the  JStarky  built  its  factories  on  a  contiguous  site. 
The  business  of  these  Corporations  built  a  populous  city 
(Manchester),  in  which  the  Universalist  interest  which 
originated  in  Amoskeag  village  forthwith  organized  a 
large  societ}^,  and  erected  a  commodious  Church.  A  Sec- 
ond Universalist  society  was  formed  in  Manchester  in 
1859  ;  and  both  are  in  a  flourishing  condition,  and  in  an 
ample  field  for  gospel  work. 

THE  ADDRESS   AT   SALEM. 

MarcJi,  25th.  —  Rev.  Lemuel  Willis  was  installed  over 
the  Universalist  Society  in  Salem,  Mass.     Rev.  Thomas 

*  This  Dr.  Oliver  Dean,  whose  manly  and  honorable  improvement  of  his 
opportunities  as  Agent  of  the  Amoskeag  jManufacturing  Company,  was  the 
means  of  putting  in  motion  the  spiritual  forces  which  have  wrought  such 
important  results  in  Manchester,  N.  H.,  is  the  founder  of  the  Dean  Academy 
in  Franklin,  Mass. 

19 


218  liEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

Jones,  of  Gloucester,  preached  the  Sermon  ;  and  it  devolved 
upon  me  to  read  the  Scriptures,  and  deliver  the  Address  to 
the  Society. 

THE  BOSTON  ASSOCIATION :   AND  BR.  L.  S. 
EVERETT'S    INSTALLATION. 

June  Uh^  1829.  —  I  assisted  in  the  organization  of  The 
Boston  Association^  in  the  Universalist  Church  in  Charles- 
town  ;  and,  in  the  evening,  took  part  in  the  services  of  the 
Installation  of  Rev.  Linus  S.  Everett,  over  the  Universalist 
Society  in  the  same  place. 

THE  DEDICATION   OF   CHILDREN. 
My  Diary  has  the  following  entry  in  its  order  of  time  :  — 

''June,  First  Sunday  (1829).  —  To-day,  at  the  commencement 
of  the  afternoon  services  in  our  Maiden  Church,  we  publicly 
dedicated  our  second  son,  Samuel  Tucker,  and  Eunice  Wait 
Putnam,  my  departed  sister's  child  whom  we  had  taken  into  our 
family,  to  our  God  and  Father  in  heaven.  Circumstances  were 
such  that  it  was  not  convenient  to  carry  Samuel  Tucker  into 
meeting  when  he  was  an  infant  in  Waterville,  Me.,  nor  since 
until  this  time.  Br.  Henry  Crehore  and  wife  also  brought  for- 
ward their  children,  and  had  them  pubHcly  dedicated  to  God  at 
the  same  time ;  viz.,  Henry,  Susan,  Joseph,  and  Julia  Augusta," 

The  residue  of  this  month  I  spent  on  a  journey  to 
Maine,  with  my  private  carriage,  Sylvanus,  Jr.,  in  com- 
pany ;  and  visiting  relatives,  and  preaching  in  many  towns 
which  had  shared  of  my  labors  in  former  years. 


A.    D.    1829.  219 


THE   MAINE   CONVENTION. 

I  took  the  Maine  Convention,  formerly  the  Eastern  Asso- 
ciation, on  my  route,  which  met  in  Readfield  on  the  24th 
and  25th.-  The  meeting  was  largely  attended  by  ministers 
and  laymen  ;  and  sermons  were  preached  by  Brs.  S.  Cobb, 
R.  Streeter,  Samuel  Brimblecom,  S.  Stetson  and  J.  Wood. 
I  knew  Rev.  Samuel  Brimblecom  as  the  Pastor  of  the  Uni- 
tarian Church  in  Norridgewock,  when  I  was  in  Waterville. 
Now  he  had  entered  into  the  full  light  and  love  of  our 
faith ;  and,  after  an  affecting  address  to  the  Council,  he 
offered  himself  for  our  denominational  Fellowship,  and  was 
cordially  received. 

THE   GENERAL    CONVENTION    OF    UNIVERSAL- 

TSTS. 

This  body  met  in  Winchester,  N.  H.,  September  IQtJi  and 
11th,  which  I  attended.  Sermons  were  preached  by  Brs. 
A.  Ballon,  S.  Streeter,  P.  Dean,  M.  Rayner,  S.  Cobb,  H. 
Ballon,  and  E.  Case.     It  was  an  interesting  occasion. 

DEDICATION   AT   SANDY  BAY. 

October  8th.  —  The  new  Universalist  Meeting  House  at 
Sandy  Bay,  now  Rockport,  was  dedicated.  By  invitation 
of  the  Committee  I  delivered  a  discourse  in  the  afternoon. 
Father  Jones,  of  Gloucester,  preached  the  Sermon  of  Ded- 
ication in  the  forenoon. 

November.  —  This  month  I  published,  in  pamphlet  form, 
A  Review  of  Dr.  DwigMs  Tract  on  Future  Punishment. 


220  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 


CLOSE   OF   THE  YEAR. 

The  following  is  the  manner  in  which  my  Journal  closes 
its  records  of  the  year  1829  :  — 

''  December  Slst.  —  Another  year  passes  away  with  this  day. 
Many  blessings  have  flowed  upon  us  during  the  ye?lr  which  is 
now  closing.  Our  family  has  been  favored  with  almost  uninter- 
rupted health ;  the  smile  of  Heaven  has  constantly  shone  upon 
us ;  and  our  enjoyments  have  been  great.  The  most  perfect 
harmony  has  continued  to  subsist  between  the  members  of  the 
society;  and  between  them  and  me.  Our  seasons  of  worship 
have  been  happy  seasons ;  the  members  of  the  society  seem  to 
be  generally  sincere  lovers  of  the  gospel ;  and  important  addi- 
tions have  been  made  to  our  con^resfation." 


A.  D.  1830. 

Though  this  year,  as  the  former  ^^ears  of  m}^  ministerial 
life,  was  full  of  labor,  it  was  generally  so  much  in  the 
usual  routine,  at  home  and  abroad,  that  there  was  but  little 
of  it  that  w^ould  be  interesting  as  matter  of  particular 
notice.  I  will  barely  make  note  of  my  presence  and 
humble  services  ou  special  public  occasions. 

INSTALLATION    OF    REV.   J.   P.   ATKINSON,   AT 
HINGHAM. 

April  2dth.  —  Rev.  J.  P.  Atkinson  was  installed  over 
the  Universalist  Society  in  Hingham.  Rev.  T.  Whittemore 
preached  the  Sermon ;  Rev.  Hosea  Ballon  delivered  the 
Charge  ;  Rev.  H.  Ballon,  2d,  the  Installation  Prayer  ;  Rev. 
L.  S.  Everett  the  Right  Hand  of  Fellowship  ;  and  it  de- 
volved upon  me  to  deliver  the  Address  or  Charge  to  the 
Society. 


A.    D.    1830.  221 

INSTALLATION  OF  REV.  WM.  S.  BALCH. 

May  DtJi. — I  attended  the  Installation  of  Rev.  Wm,  S. 
BalcJi  over  the  Universalist  Society  of  Newton  and  Water- 
town^  and  offered  the  Introductory  prayer. 

BOSTON  ASSOCIATION. 

This  body  met  in  the  first  Universalist  Church  in  Boston, 
June  2d.  Sermons  were  preached  by  Brs.  Wm.  Morse,  S. 
Cobb,  and  T.  F.  King. 

THE  MAINE   CONVENTION. 

June  SOth.  —  This  was  the  first  day  of  the  session  of  the 
Maine  Convention  of  Universalists  in  Norway.  As  it  was 
known  that  I  was  under  the  necessity  of  leaving  for  home 
this  day  at  noon,  it  was  assigned  for  me  to  preach  this 
forenoon.  As  usual  on  these  occasions  in  Maine,  the  meet- 
ing was  large. 

It  was  affecting  to  receive  the  heart}^  greetings  of  my  famil- 
iar friends  and  former  associates  meeting  from  various  parts 
of  m}^  native  State,  accompanying  the  warm  grip  of  the 
hand  with  the  exclamation,  —  "  When  will  you  come  home 
again  to  your  old  friends,  and  to  the  land  of  your  nativ- 
ity ?  "  And  to  separate  from  them  at  noon  on  the  first  day 
of  the  session  was  trying  to  my  feelings.  But  I  had  spent 
the  time  I  had  to  spare  for  this  route,  in  visiting  round 
about  before  the  meeting  of  the  Convention. 

ROCKINGHAM  ASSOCIATION. 

August  26t7i  and  26fJi.  —  This  Association  was  in  session 
at  Atkinson,  N.  H.  Sermons  were  preached,  by  Brs.  L. 
Willis,  S.  Cobb,  T.  F.  King,  T.  Whittemore,  and  S. 
Streeter. 

19* 


222  REV.    SYLVAN  us     COBB,    D.D. 

OLD   COLONY   ASSOCIATION. 

At  the  meeting  of  this  Association  in 
September  1st,  sermons  were  preached  by  Brs.  T.  F.King, 
M.  Rayner,  and  S.  Cobb. 

THE   GENERAL   CONVENTION. 

The  General  Convention  of  Universalists  of  the  New 
England  States  and  others,  held  an  annual  session  in  Leb- 
anon, N.  IL,  September  15th  and  16th.  The  preaching  on 
this  occasion  was  by  Brs.  T.  F.  King,  S.  Cobb,  T.  Whitte- 
more,  S.  Streeter,  and  Rosea  Ballon.  Mrs.  Cobb  accom- 
panied me  to  this  meeting. 

CONFERENCE   WITH   DR.   EMMONS. 

Monday^  December  27t7i.  —  Having  preached  in  Frank- 
lin, Mass.,  on  the  preceding  day  (Sunday),  I  tarried  over 
to-day,  that  1  might  discharge  an  obligation  to  the  A'enera- 
ble  Dr.  Emmons,  which  he,  in  pleasantr}"  at  least,  imputed 
to  me.  He  had  said  to  m}^  friend,  Maj.  Mann,  "  You  must 
call  on  me  with  j^our  minister  when  he  visits  j'ou  again. 
He  has  been  in  town  many  times,  preaching  within  the 
limits  of  my  parish,  and  I  feel  slighted  by  his  neglect  to 
call  upon  me.  Ministerial  etiquette  requires  that,  when  a 
young  minister  comes  preaching  in  a  town  where  an  old  one 
is  settled,  the  new  comer  shall  call  upon  the  old  settler. 
Don't  fail  to  introduce  jour  minister  on  his  next  visit 
here." 

Maj.  Mann  was  an  elder  brother  of  Hon.  Horace  Mann ; 
and  he  was  the  agent  of  the  Franklin  City  Factor}^  My 
first  ministerial    visit  to    that    place,    preaching  in  the 


A.    D.    1830.      -  223 

"Franklin  City  School  house,"  was  procured  by  Maj. 
Mann  on  his  own  responsibility.  And,  though  he  had 
forthwith  the  co-operation  of  faithful  and  energetic  asso- 
ciates, he  was  in  the  lead,  and  his  house  was  mj^  home  in 
that  town.  It  was  natural,  tlierefore,  that  the  doctor  should, 
in  address  to  the  Major,  denominate  me  Ms  minister. 

With  regard  to  the  personality  of  the  other  party,  he 
was  the  world  renowned  Nathaniel  Emmons,  D.D.,  an 
Orthodox  divine  of  great  celebrity ;  one  of  their  standard 
authors ;  rather  HopMnsian  than  Calvinistic ;  bold  and 
unreserved  in  the  statement  of  his  strong  points  ;  and,  as 
men  of  his  calibre  frequently  are,  with  their  peers,  some- 
what facetious.  He  was  popular  as  a  teacher  of  teachers, 
insomuch  that  The  New  American  C3^ciop8edia  says,  "  He 
guided  the  studies  of  some  87  theological  students."  He 
was  now  86  years  of  age. 

Well,  on  the  Monday  morning  aforesaid,  my  friend  in- 
troduced me  into  the  studio  of  Dr.  Emmons,  and  the  pres- 
ence of  its  presiding  genius.  The  doctor,  though  so  far 
advanced  in  age,  was  in  good  health,  and  of  brilliant  mind. 
He  was  free  and  communicative ;  and  after  repeating  his 
conversation  with  Maj.  Mann  with  regard  to  my  obligation 
to  give  him  a  call,  he  i)ut  me  immediately  upon  the  work 
of  explaining  and  vindicating  as  accordant  with  the  Scrip- 
tures, my  theological  sj^stem.  Of  course  he  soon  presented 
me  with  Matt.  xxv.  46  :  "  And  these  shall  go  away  into 
everlasting  punishment ;  but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal." 
I  took  him  with  me  into  a  careful  and  critical  reading  of 
our  Lord's  discourse  from  the  beginning,  of  which  he  had 
given  me  the  concluding  words.  He  went  along  with  me, 
as  friends  walk  arm  in  arm,  giving  his  undivided  attention. 
When  we  had  reached  thus  the  end  of  Chap,  xxiv.,  he  ad- 
mitted that  the  judgment,  and  the  attendant  tribulations, 


224  EEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

wbicn  were  the  subject  of  that  Chapter,  involved  the  national 
destruction  of  the  Jews,  which  was  to  take  place,  and  did 
take  place,  before  that  generation  2')cissed  away.  I  then 
called  his  attention  to  the  fact,  that  Mark  (Chap,  xiii).,  and 
Luke  (Chap,  xxi.),  recording  what  they  deemed  most  im- 
portant of  that  discourse  of  their  Lord,  have  made  record 
of  only  the  portion  of  it  which  our  translators  have,  by  their 
division  of  it  in  Matthew's  record,  parted  off  into  Chap, 
xxiv. ;  and  that  Matthew  connects  with  this,  what  follows 
in  his  record  (Chap,  xxv.),  by  the  adverb  then;  —  '•'then 
shall  the  kingdom  of  heaven  be  likened  unto  ten  virgins," 
&c. ;  showing  that  the  three  parables  which  he  records 
while  the  other  Evangelists  omit  them,  are  but  additional 
and  figurative  illustrations  of  the  same  events,  of  the  same 
time,  treated  in  Chap.  xxiv.  I  also  showed  him  that  this 
view  of  the  unity  of  subject  in  these  two  chapters  is  con- 
firmed by  the  constant  reference  which  is  made  in  the  latter 
to  the  former,  by  repetition  of  its  language  in  description 
of  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  in  his  glory. 

I  then  put  to  the  Doctor  this  question  :  —  When  a  faith- 
ful reporter  undertakes  to  publish  a  report  of  a  speech  of 
his  revered  teacher,  if,  for  convenience,  he  curtails  or 
abridges  it,  will  he  not  be  particular  to  publish  in  full  such 
portions  of  the  speech  as  he  deems  most  important  for  the 
public,  and  for  posterity?  Does  not  the  fact,  therefore, 
that  Mark  and  Luke  omitted  to  report  the  three  parables 
comprised  in  Matt,  xxv.,  conclusively  show  that  they  did 
7iot  understand  those  parables  to  introduce  a  new  and  dis- 
tinct subject,  and  one  infinitely  more  important  to  be 
handed  down  to  all  subsequent  ages  ? 

Dr.  Emmons  instantly  replied,  "  I  see  the  point.  The 
argument  is  plausible."  And  then  he  facetiously  added, — 
*'  But  I  don't  believe  it ;  and  I  don't  believe  you  do."   That 


A.    D.    18:50.  225 

great  scholar  and  divine  saw  the  force  of  the  circumstances 
presented,  and  felt  it.  And  his  instantaneous  impulse 
came  to  his  relief  with  a  jocular  dismissal  of  the  subject. 

Then  it  came  to  be  my  turn  to  ask  questions.  And  in 
his  answers,  he  was  more  frank  and  ingenuous  than  instruc- 
tive. He  made  no  effort  to  dodge  difficulties,  or  to  relieve 
himself  of  embarrassments  by  amalgamations  of  Armin- 
ianism  and  Augustinianism.  Indeed,  he  could  not  be  embar- 
rassed. When  I  presented  him  a  glaring  absurdity  in  his 
theological  doctrines,  and  the  irreconcilable  disharmony 
between  their  different  parts,  with  all  frankness  and  uncon- 
cern, without  hesitation  or  prevarication,  he  would  respond, 
^^  I  see  it,  I  see  it.  I  know  there  is  a  difficulty  there.  All 
theories  have  their  difficulties.  But  I  believe  this  notwith- 
standing." 

We  occupied  a  considerable  part  of  the  day  in  our  con- 
versation, dining  together  at  his  table.  And  it  was,  to  me, 
upon  the  whole,  a  pleasant  conference. 

I  will  note  one  circumstance  here,  for  the  benefit  of  my 
ministering  brethren,  in  relation  to  the  Doctor's  Stud}'.  It 
was  his  Sitting  Room.  He  said  he  had,  by  this  arrange- 
ment, improved  a  great  many  hours  in  most  profitable  work 
as  a  sermonizer  and  author,  which  would  have  been  lost  if 
his  study  were  away  by  itself  in  an  upper  room.  Often 
he  came  into  the  house  from  parochial  calls  or  out-door 
choring,  a  fraction  of  an  hour  before  dinner  or  supper,  or 
an  hour  or  two  before  bedtime  ;  and  he  would  sit  down 
directly  to  his  literary  labor,  losing  not  a  minute ;  when, 
if  he  were  required  to  go  off  to  an  upper  room  to  his  work, 
especially  in  the  considerable  portion  of  the  year  when  the 
study  would  need  warming,  nothing  would  have  been 
done. 


22G  nEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

The  Doctor's  theory  in  this  economy  has  ever  been  my 
own.  I  have  had  a  separate  room  to  which  I  conkl  retire 
when  I  pleased.  But,  usually,  the  family  Sitting  Room 
has  been  my  principal  Library  Room  and  Study.  When 
ladies  have  been  in  enjoying  a  social  chat  with  the  female 
members  of  my  family,  and  I  was  at  my  writing,  —  and 
they  have  expressed  the  fear  that  they  were  disturbing 
me,  —  I  have  replied,  that  I  could  think  and  write  as  much 
more  vigorously  for  their  presence  and  conversation,  the 
conversation  not  particularly  concerning  me,  as  a  soldier 
can  march  better  for  good  music. 

A.  D.    1831. 

This  j^ear  too,  as  the  preceding,  was  one  of  general 
quiet,  and  prosperity,  and  happiness,  in  m}^  home  Paro- 
chial relations,  and  of  \igilant  attention  to  the  legitimate 
duties  of  those  relations.  Posterity  will  understand  my 
labors  of  the  3- ear  in  general,  from  the  nature  of  my  official 
position,  without  record,  as  well  as  the}^  could  from  de- 
tailed reports.  A  few  incidents,  however,  and  special 
services  abroad,  I  will  note  as  I  pass. 

CHURCH   RECOGNITION  IN  MARLBORO'. 

February  2od.  —  I  took  part  in  the  services  of  Recognition 
of  a  Universalist  Church  in  Marlboro',  Mass.,  which  had 
just  been  organized  b}^  Rev.  T.  J.  Greenwood,  Pastor.  To 
me  was  assigned  the  deliver}^  of  the  discourse  on  the  occa- 
sion ;  and  then,  after  an  Address  to  the  Church  by  Rev.  R. 
Streeter,  and  the  Baptism  of  several  of  the  members  by 
the  Pastor  (in  the  form  of  sprinkling),  the  administration 


A.    D.    1831.  227 

of  the  ordinance  of  the  Lord's  Supper.     (For  notice  of  my 
subsequent  labors  in  Marlboro',  see  page — *) 

ANOTHER  ADDITION   TO   THE   HOUSEHOLD. 

March  ^\st.  —  This  morning  my  wife  presented  unto  me 
a  fifth  child,  and  fourth  son.  When  he  was  two  weeks 
old,  Capt.  George  Winslow,  a  valuable  member  of  my 
Society,  having  obtained  our  consent,  conferred  upon  him 
his  own  name,  —  all  but  the  Captain.  And  by  this  name 
we  publicly  Dedicated  him  to  the  great  Father,  as  a  member 
of  the  mystical  body  of  Christ,  Sunday^  July  ^Ist. 

'  OUR  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 

April  1th.  Fast-Day.  —  I  delivered  to  my  congregation 
a  discourse  on  Temperance,  taking  a  strong  position  for 
the  total  disuse  of  all  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage.  I 
expected  that  I  should  give  offence  to  some,  as  numbers 
of  my  parishioners  were  "  moderate  drinkers,"  and  a  few 
were  more  than  that ;  and  none  of  them  had  attached 
themselves  to  the  Temperance  Society  which  had  been 
organized  in  the  town.  But  the  lesson  was  well  received, 
and  effective  in  its  operation.  I  forthwith  borrowed  the 
Constitution  of  the  Maiden  Temperance  Society,  and  called 
with  it  on  all  the  heads  of  families  in  my  Parish,  and 
obtained  the  signatures  of  nearly  all  of  them  to  the  Pledge. 
I  encountered  the  objection  from  many,  on  the  first  pre- 
sentation of  the  subject,  that  this  Temperance  Society  was 
an  Orthodox  movement ;  and  in  proof  of  this  I  was  re- 


*  This  notice  the  Autobiographer  did  not  live  to  write ;  but  the  reader  will 
find  an  account  of  the  labors  referred  to  in  Chapter  XVII.  of  the  Memoir. 

The  Memoirist. 


228  EEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

fcrred  to  the  fact  tlint  most  of  the  members  were  Orthodox 
people,  and  had  all  the  management  of  its  affairs  among 
themselves.  To  be  sure,  I  replied,  and  it  must  be  so  as 
long  as  we  keep  ourselves  away.  I  showed  ray  friends 
that  there  was  nothing  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Society 
to  prevent  our  all  becoming  members,  and  in  such  numbers 
as  to  exert,  ourselves,  a  controlling  influence  in  the  Soci- 
ety. And  we  did  so.  And  the  Universalist  Society  in 
Maiden  has  ever  since  occupied  a  prominent  position  and 
exerted  an  effective  influence  in  the  temperance  cause. 

FATHER  RAYNER'S   PROJECT. 

April  25th.  —  I  received  a  letter  from  Rev.  Menzies 
Rayner,  of  Hartford,  Ct.,  through  Rev.  Linus  S.Everett  as 
his  intercessor,  proposing  that  I  should  remove  my  abode  to 
Hartford,  preach  one  half  of  the  time  in  that  city,  and  the 
other  half  out  (he  doing  the  same),  and  take  one  half  of 
the  interest  in  his  paper,  "  The  Religious  Inquirer.''  Father 
Rayner  had  of  course  conferred  with  his  Parish  Committee 
on  this  arrangement.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the 
Committee  of  that  society  were  in  correspondence  with  me 
in  relation  to  my  holding  myself  subject  to  a  candidacy  for 
settlement  with  them,  at  the  time  when  Father  Rayner 
came  among  them,  over  from  the  Episcopal  communion. 
Now  it  was  proposed  that  their  two  contemplated  cotempo- 
rary  Candidates  should  become  Associate  Pastors. 

This  was  the  proflfer  of  an  inviting  position ;  but  I 
returned  at  once  a  negative  answer.  So  pleasant  and  so 
settled  had  become  my  situation  in  Maiden,  and  so  diversi- 
fied were  the  opportunities  for  useful  labor  round  about, 
that  I  could  not  even  debate  the  question  of  removing  at 
that  time. . 


A.    D.    1831.  229 

BOSTON  ASSOCIATION. 

June  1  St.  —  The  Boston  Association  of  Universalists 
met  in  the  School  Street  Church  in  Boston.  Agreeably  to 
appointment  of  the  preceding  3^ear,  it  deyolved  upon  me  to 
preach  the  "  Occasional  Sermon."  My  text  was  1  Tim. 
iv.  16  :  "  Take  heed  unto  thyself  and  unto  the  doctrines  ; 
continue  in  them :  for  in  doing  this  thou  shalt  both  save 
thyself,  and  them  that  hear  thee."  The  Council  having,  in 
accordance  with  its  custom,  voted  a  request  for  the  publi- 
cation of  the  Sermon,  this  was  published  in  the  Trumpet 
and  Universalist  Magazine  of  July  2d,  1831. 

July  Fourth.  —  Public  Independence-Day  exercises  were 
held  in  the  Brick  Church ;  and,  by  the  Committee  of 
Arrangements  it  devolved  upon  the  reader's  humble  ser- 
vant to  deliver  the  Oration.  I  treated  the  History  of  Lib- 
erty, and  the  means  of  its  preservation,  and  of  the  diffusion 
of  its  principles  and  blessings  into  all  the  departments  and 
ramifications  of  societ3^  Near  the  conclusion  I  pleasantly 
gave  the  subject  such  a  turn  that  its  application  to  the 
relations  of  contending  parties  in  our  own  town  was  vis- 
ible. The  effect  was  a  happ}^  one.  All  the  religious 
denominations  united  in  this  celebration  ;  and  the  influence 
of  the  exercises  and  the  occasion  completed  the  extermina- 
tion of  animosity  and  contention,  and  inaugurated  an  era 
of  general  good  feeling. 

ROCKINGHAM  ASSOCIATION  ;  AND  ORDINATION 
OF  REV.  OILMAN  NOTES. 

Wednesday  and  Thursday^  August  31s^,  and  Sept.  1st,  the 
Rockingham  Association  of  Universalists  held  a  session  in 
New  Market,  N.  H.     On  Thursday,  Br.  Oilman   Noyes, 
20 


230  EEF.    SYLVANUS     COBB.    D.D. 

one  of  my  theological  students,  received  Ordination.  Ser- 
mons were  preached  on  the  occasion,  by  Brs.  T.  F.  King, 
L.  R.  Paige,  T.  Whittemore,  John  Moore,  S.  Cobb  (the 
Ordination  Sermon),  H.  Ballon,  Elias  Smith,  and  Walter 
Balfour. 

KENNEBEC   ASSOCIATION. 

September  —  Was  principally  appropriated  to  my  annual 
Maine  visitation,  which  must  needs  be  made  also  a  mission- 
ar}^  tour  over  much  of  the  State.  On  the  21st  I  turned  in  at 
Wilton,  where  the  Kennebec  Association  was  in  session, 
for  that  and  the  succeeding  day.  I  must  of  course  preach 
one  sermon  ;  and  that  service  came  off  on  the  afternoon  of 
Thursday,  the  22d. 

December  2>lst.  —  My  Journal  closes  its  record  of  the 
year  in  this  happy  strain  :  — 

"  This  day  brings  us  to  the  close  of  another  year.  Our  fam- 
ily have  shared  of  the  protecting  care,  and  the  constant  blessings 
of  Heaven,  as  in  former  years.  We  have  had  the  addition  of 
one,  making  the  number  of  our  children  five.  My  relation  with 
my  Parish  continues  to  be  one  of  mutual  satisfaction,  and  undis- 
turbed harmony  and  peace.  The  average  congregation  has 
increased ;  there  seems  to  be  an  increase  of  interest  and  atten- 
tion. I  am  at  peace  with  the  whole  world  so  far  as  personality 
is  concerned ;  my  only  warfare  being  against  error  and  vice,  and 
against  spiritual  wickedness  in  high  places.  This  warfare  goes 
on  "  conquering  and  to  conquer."  "  The  Lord  reigneth ;  let  the 
earth  rejoice." 

•     A.  D.   1832. 

THE    SUNDAY    SCHOOL. 

May^  Second  Sunday.  —  At  the  close  of  the  morning  ser- 
vice, I  requested  those  who  felt  an  interest  in  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Sunday  School,  to  tarry  after  the  Benediction, 


A.    D.    1832.  231 

and  adopt  measures  for  the  organization  of  such  a  school. 
A  goodly  number  tarried,  discussed  the  subject  in  the  right 
spirit,  and  appointed  a  Board  of  Directors  for  putting  for- 
ward the  business.  We  held  these  preliminary  meetings 
often  by  adjournment,  and  shortly  the  school  was  put  into 
operation,  and  forthwith  became  an  interesting  institution. 
This  was  among  the  first  Sunday  Schools  formed  in  the 
Universalist  denomination. 

The  whole  Sunday  School  system,  as  a  religious  educa- 
tional instrumentality,  was  comparatively  new.  And  our 
people  had,  for  a  while,  some  prejudice  against  it,  as  a 
scheme  by  which  the  Orthodox  were  seeking  to  bring  the 
young,  generally,  under  their  sectarian  influence.  I  met 
with  this  objection  from  some  of  the  heads  of  families  in  my 
societ}^,  on  my  private  calls  and  labors  preparatory  to  the 
public  movement  just  noted.  But  I  found  it  not  diflticult  to 
aid  all  their  understandings  to  a  discernment  of  the 
fact,  that  the  field  was  just  as  open,  and  the  instrumen- 
tality for  the  religious  education  of  the  young  just  as 
available  to  us,  as  to  other  denominations  ;  and  that  the 
circumstance  that  others  were  improving  this  important 
means  of  good,  constituted  no  reason  why  vve  should  neg- 
lect to  do  so. 

DISCUSSION   WITH   DR.   BUCK. 

On  the  third  Sunday  in  this  month,  May,  Dr.  Ephraim 
Buck,  the  oldest  physician  in  Maiden,  and  the  leader  of  the 
Trinitarian  party  in  our  Parish  contests,  delivered  in  my 
Church,  at  5^-  o'clock  p.  m.,  his  part  of  a  sort  of  Theological 
Discussion  between  him  and  me.  It  was  his  Reply  to  my 
Review  of  Dr.  D wight's  Tract  on  Future  Punishment  here- 
tofore noticed,  which  I  addressed  to  Dr.  Buck,  because  I 


232  UEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

received  the  Tract  at  his  hand,  with  his  compliments.  He 
had  appointed  to  deliver  his  Reply  in  his  own  place  of  meet- 
ing, the  School  House  Hall.  But  as  that  was  not  large 
enough  to  accommodate  all  who  would  probably  want  to 
hear  the  whole  discussion,  I  invited  him  to  deliver  it  in  the 
First  Parish  Church ;  and  he  accepted  my  invitation. 

I  answered  the  Doctor  at  5J-  o'clock  p.  m.  on  the  First 
Sunday  in  June.  The  house  was  densely  crowded,  and  I  oc- 
cupied an  hour  and  thirty-five  minutes.  He  made  the  basis 
of  his  argument,  as  did  Dr.  Dwight  of  his  Tract,  the  25th 
Chapter  of  St.  Matthew.  Of  course  my  labor,  except  in  the 
exposure  of  my  opponent's  mistakes  and  sophistries,  was 
devoted  to  the  explanation  of  that  Chapter.  I  earnestly 
requested  the  Doctor  to  commit  to  me  his  manuscript  for 
publication  with  my  Rejoinder  ;  but  he  declined  to  do  so. 
I,  however,  published  my  Rejoinder  in  the  Trumpet  and 
Universalist  Magazine  of  June  30,  and  July  7,  1832,  and 
had  a  large  number  of  copies  worked  off  in  pamphlet  form. 
But  my  exposition  of  that  Chapter  may  be  found,  not  only 
in  my  Commentary  on  the  New  Testament,  but  in  my  Re- 
view of  Dr.  Edw.  Beecher's  Conflict  of  Ages,  and  in  my 
Discussion  with  Dr.  Nehemiah  Adams. 

My  labors  altogether,  this  day,  were  as  enormous  in 
bulk,  as  any  one  Sunday's  labors  which  I  performed  in  the 
State  of  Maine.  I  delivered  two  discourses  of  ordinary 
length  in  Woburn,  at  the  regular  morning  and  afternoon 
meetings,  on  exchange  with  Rev.  D.  D.  Smith ;  then,  as  I 
have  said,  spoke  an  hour  and  thirt3^-five  minutes  in  Re- 
sponse to  Dr.  Buck,  commencing  at  5-J  o'clock  p.  m.  ;  and 
then  rode  to  Reading,  and  preached  another  hour  by 
candle-light,  by  particular  request,  on  the  question,  "  What 
IS  IT  TO  BE  A  Universalist  ?  "  But  God  gave  me  strength 
equal  to  the  labors  of  the  day. 


A.    D.    1832.  233 

DEDICATION    AND     INSTALLATION    IN     TAUN- 
TON. 

The  Universalist  Society  in  Taunton,  Mass.,  had  pur- 
chased, moved,  and  fitted  up,  a  large  Meeting  House  which 
had  been  vacated  by  the  Unitarian  Society  ;  and,  — 

June  27th,  —  They  Dedicated  the  house,  and  Installed 
Rev.  John  B.  Dods  as  their  Pastor.  It  fell  to  my  lot  to 
preach  the  Dedication  Sermon,  in  the  forenoon  ;  and  Rev. 
Hosea  Ballon  delivered  the  Sermon  of  Installation,  in  the 
afternoon. 

FATHER    BALLOU'S    VIEW    OF    WRITING    SER- 
MONS. 

During  the  intermission,  in  the  room  which  we  occupied 
at  the  time  by  ourselves,  Father  Ballon,  walking  in  the 
mood  of  intense  stud}^,  remarked  to  me,  that  the  longer  he 
lived,  the  more  he  came  to  be  in  favor  of  young  preachers 
writing  their  sermons  in  full.  This  he  had  not  done.  And 
now  that  he  was  becoming  advanced  in  years,  and  his 
memory  was  failing  him,  he  found  that  he  had  lost,  beyond 
recovery,  some  of  his  best  thoughts  and  happiest  illustra- 
tions. He  could  not  reproduce  the  work  of  his  life's  prime, 
except  what  had  been  committed  to  print.  And  often, 
when  mentall}^  preparing  his  sermon  for  the  public,  he  suf- 
fered anxiety  lest  his  memory  should  fail  to  take  hold  of 
some  of  his  most  important  illustrations  at  the  appropriate 
place.  Sometimes  he  had  passed  the  place  where  he  had 
designed  to  introduce  an  illustration  on  which  he  hung  the 
chief  interest  of  his  discourse  ;  and  there  was  no  other 
place  for  it,  and  he  was  dissatisfied  with  his  performance. 
He  believed  that  young  preachers  should  cultivate  the 
20* 


234  JIEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

habit  of  delivering  discourses  without  manuscript,  when 
they  could  do  so  ;  and  that  they  should  discipline  themselves 
to  a  free  and  natural  manner  of  delivery,  whether  with  or 
without  the  manuscript  before  them ;  but  he  would  advise 
them,  as  far  as  it  was  practicable,  to  write  their  sermons  in 
full 

INSTALLATION  OF   EEV.  L.  R.  PAIGE. 

July,  Second  Sunday.  —  After  my  two  regular  discourses 
at  home,  I  attended,  at  5  o'clock  p.  m.,  the  services  of  In- 
stallation of  Rev.  L.  R.  Paige,  over  the  Universalist  Soci- 
ety in  Cambridgeport,  and  preached  the  sermon  on  that 
occasion. 

DEDICATION   AT   MEDFORD. 

July  18th. — The  new  Universalist  Society  in  Medford 
Dedicated  their  new  Meeting  House  to  its  appropriate  use 
as  a  temple  of  divine  worship.  It  was  assigned  to  me  to 
preach  the  Dedicatory  Sermon. 

This  society  was  an  offspring  of  our  regenerated  Parish 
in  Maiden.  Several  Medford  families  attached  themselves 
to  our  meeting  after  my  settlement  there  ;  and  I  gave  them 
occasional  lectures  in  their  Village.  The  erection  of  this 
Society  took  these  families  from  our  meeting ;  —  but  it 
served  the  greater  good. 

THE   GENERAL   CONVENTION. 

September  19th  and  20th.  —  The  old  "General  Conven- 
tion of  Universalists  for  the  New  England  States  and 
others,"  was  in  session  at  Concord,  N.  H.  Forty  minister- 
ing brethren  were  present.  The  public  services  were  held 
in  the  Baptist  Church.     All  the  other  Churches  in  the  City 


J.    D.    1833.  235 

were  likewise  offered  for  our  ficcommodation.  Sermons 
were  preached  by  Brs.  S.  Cobb,  S.  Streeter,  M.  Rayner,  T. 
Jones,  H.  Ballon,  and  C.  M.  LeFevre.  An  advance  was 
made  towards  the  transformation  of  this  Convention  into  a 
United  States  Convention.,  to  be  composed  of  Delegates  from 
the  State  Conventions.  The  great  growth  of  our  cause  and 
denomination  in  the  United  States  demanded  this  improve- 
ment. 

ANOTHER  NEWCOMER. 

December  \st.  —  Our  second  daughter,  which  is  our  sixth 
child,  was  born  this  evening ;  whom  we  named,  Sarah 
Wait  ;  and  in  which  name  she  was  publicly  Dedicated  on 
i\iQ  Fourth  Sunday  of  the  next  June. 


A.  D.  1833. 

In  February.,  I  published  in  Pamphlet  form  my  Reply  to 
a  Dissertation  on  Future  Punishment  by  Oliver  Johnson, 
Editor  of  the  Christian  Soldier.,  —  which  Reply  I  delivered 
in  the  Town  Plall  in  Lynn  on  the  evening  of  the  Second 
Sunday  in  January.,  he  having  delivered  his  Dissertation 
also  in  that  Hall. 

Without  multiplying  notes  of  particulars,  which  were 
generally  in  the  regular  routine  of  ministerial,  citizen,  and 
literary  duties,  including  due  attention  to  Associational 
meetings,  and  the  missionary  labors  which  I  referred  to  in 
my  general  exhibit  of  Extra  Services,  under  the  head  of 
"  That  Lecturing  Business"  pp.  201-208,  suffice  it  to 
remark  in  general  of  this  year,  —  That  it  was  a  year  of 
general  health  and  undeviating  peace  and  happiness  at 
home,  and  of  beautiful  harmony  and  pleasing  prosperity  in 
our  religious  Society.     It  may  be  expedient,  however,  to 


236  BEV.    SYLVANUS     COJJB,   D.D. 

make  record  of  one  speciality  ;  that  is,  my  consent  to  be 
put  in  nomination  as  a  candidate  for  election  as  the  town's 
Ilepresentative  to  the  General  Court. 

Sometime  in  October,  the  Chairman  of  the  Parish  Com- 
mittee called  upon  me,  and,  after  the  greeting  and  the 
seating,  said  to  me,  "  I  want  to  ask  you  a  question."  "  Very 
well,"  I  answered,  "say  on."  He  asked,  "Are  5'ou  a  Jack- 
son man?"  "No,"  said  I,  "not  in  the  technical  sense." 
"  Well,"  he  continued,  "  I  thought  so.  Some  of  us  were 
speaking  of  it  the  other  evening,  and  it  was  said  by  one  of 
the  company  that  you  were  a  Jackson  man.  But  I  thought 
not."  "Well,"  1  rejoined,  "if  this  is  a  matter  of  discus- 
sion, let  me  not  be  misunderstood.  In  the  days  of  the 
Federal  and  the  Republican  parties,  I  was  a  Republican. 
But  at  the  close  of  the  Madisonian  war,  and  during  the 
eight  years  of  the  Monroe  administration,  the  parties  were 
merged,  and  visible  party  lines  were  practically  obliterated. 
We  were  all  Federal  Republicans.  But  when,  in  the  suc- 
ceeding Presidential  canvass,  a  contest  arose,  and  Andrew 
Jackson  and  J.  Q.  Adams  were  opposing  candidates,  while 
I  highly  esteemed  Jackson  as  a  patriot  and  military  com- 
mander, I  preferred  Adams  as  a  Statesman,  and  gave  him 
my  vote.  This  explains  what  I  mean  by  saying  I  am  not  a 
Jackson  man.  But  I  will  do  Gen.  Jackson  the  justice  to 
say,  that  he  far  exceeded  my  expectations  as  a  statesman 
and  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  nation." 

"  But  what,"  I  inquired,  "  does  your  questioning  mean  ?" 
"Oh,"  he  replied,  "we  think  of  sending  you  to  the  General 
Court  next  winter,  as  our  Representative."  "  Not  if  I  am 
to  be  put  up  on  political  party  ground,"  I  rejoined  emphat- 
ically. "  No,"  he  continued,  "  nothing  of  that.  We  want 
you  to  go  on  business  principles.  We  want  a  new  bridge 
across  the  Mystic,  to  Charlestown,  to  be  self-paying,  and 


A.  D.  i8r>4.  237 

uUimately  free.  And  we  want  your  influence  in  the  Legis- 
lature to  aid  us  in  the  enterprise."  I  assured  him  that, 
notwithstanding  the  worthy  motives  of  my  friends,  I  would 
not  consent  to  be  a  candidate  for  that  office  if  it  might 
unfavorably  affect  the  feelings  of  any  of  my  Parishioners. 
He  assured  me  in  return,  that  there  would  be  no  division 
there  ;  that  all  our  members  wished  my  election.  "  Then," 
said  I,  "go  and  act  your  own  judgment  of  right  and  expe- 
diency, as  my  friend,  and  a  friend  of  all  the  other  interests 
concerned  in  the  question." 

I  was  put  in  nomination,  and,  on  November  11th,  the 
State  Election  Day,  was  elected  by  nearly  a  unanimous 
vote  to  the  aforesaid  office. 


A.  D.   1834. 

JANUARY,  FEBRUARY,  MARCH. 

During  these  three  months,  my  chief  week-day  business 
was  that  involved  in  my  official  position  as  a  member  of 
the  Legislature.  My  first  personal  concern  was  that  for 
which,  in  particular,  I  was  elected,  the  procurement  of  a 
charter  for  a  new  bridge.  I  was  successful.  A  charter 
was  obtained  for  the  bridge  (Middlesex  Bridge),  to  be 
completed  within  three  j-ears,  establishing  given  rates  of 
toll,  all  over  the  payment  of  current  expenses  to  be  funded 
until  the  amount  should  be  sufficient  to  pay  the  cost  of  the 
structure,  and  then  it  shoukl  becom^e  a  free  bridge. 

Another  subject  to  which  I  gave  some  earnest  attention 
in  its  place,  was  the  proposed  legislation  against  Free 
Masonry.  It  was  the  climax  of  the  famous  Anti-Masonic 
excitement.  The  Speaker's  Table  groaned  beneath  the 
burden  of  petitions  praying  for  an  Act  to  abolish  Free 


238  liEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

Masoniy,  and  to  render  Masonic  Oaths  unlawful.  A  large 
Special  Committee  was  appointed  as  the  reference  for  these 
petitions.  But  that  Committee  was  practically  superseded, 
and  the  work  taken  out  of  their  hands,  and  political,  Anti- 
Masonry  killed  out,  in  the  following  manner:  An  order 
was  introduced,  directing  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary 
to  consider  the  expediency  of  passing  a  general  law  against 
"  Extra-judicial  Oaths,"  and  to  report  a  bill.  That  Com- 
mittee reported  a  bill,  prohibitive  of  Extra  Judicial  Oaths. 
They  said  their  design  was  to  put  a  stop  to  the  multiplying 
sea-serpent  oaths,  and  other  practices  of  running  to  a 
Justice  of  the  Peace  and  making  formal  oath  to  the  truth 
of  this  and  that  "  cock  and  bull  story," — all  w^hich  was  cal- 
culated to  depreciate  the  solemnity  of  an  oath.  Masonry 
was  not  named  in  the  bill.  Yet  it  was  evident  that,  if  this 
should  pass,  the  political  Anti-Masons  could  do  nothing 
more ;  for  if  the  Masonic  oath  should  be  judged  by  the 
Courts  a  nuisance,  coming  within  the  legitimate  province 
of  law  to  suppress,  this  w^ould  suppress  it. 

An  Anti-Mason  moved  to  amend  the  bill,  by  inserting 
before  the  words  extra-judicial,  Masonic  and  other ;  making 
it  to  prohibit  "  all  masonic  and  other  extra-judicial  oaths." 
This  amendment  was  carried.  Then  a  Mason  moved  to 
further  amend,  by  inserting  anti-masonic  before  the  word 
masonic;  so  that  it  should  read,  "  all  anti-masonic,  masonic^ 
and  other  extra-judicial  oaths."  And  this  was  adopted. 
The  design  was  to  encumber  the  bill  with  frivolities,  and 
crush  it  out. 

At  this  point  I  deemed  it  my  duty  to  come  to  the  rescue. 
Having  obtained  the  decision  of  the  Speaker  that  such  a 
motion  w^ould  be  in  order,  I  moved  to  amend  by  striking 
out  all  the  party  amendments,  and  restoring  the  bill  to  its 
original  form.     Addressing  the  Chair  of  course,  I  designed 


A.    D.    18.34.  239 

mj^  argument  for  the  Masons,  and  others  who  desired  to 
get  rid  of  the  political  Anti-Masonic  nuisance.  I  explained 
that  I  was  a  Mason,  and  knew  that  the  principles  of  Ma- 
sonry were  good,  and  that  the  influence  of  the  institution 
had  been  extensively  productive  of  good.  But  I  was  will- 
ing to  risk  the  institution  under  the  operation  of  such  a 
law  as  was  now  proposed.  Though  such  law  might  sup- 
jjress  the  public  exhibitions  of  a  class  of  dandy  jack  oaths 
which  might  be  regarded  as  public  nuisances,  it  would  not 
probably  touch  the  quiet  exercise,  in  retirement,  of  any 
natural  and  inalienable  right.  Let  the  bill  be  restored  to 
its  original  simplicity,  as  it  came  from  the  hands  of  the 
Committee,  and  be  enacted  into  a  law  ;  and  Constitutional 
right  will  be  preserved ;  and  the  political  Anti-Masonic 
agitation,  by  which  men  who  have  not  substantial  merits  on 
which  to  rise,  calculate  to  continue  raising  a  whirlwind  to 
bear  them  into  office,  will  die  out. 

My  amendment  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  242  to  96. 
Then  the  bill  as  amended  was  passed,  by  437  yeas  to  37 
nays. 

The  leading  Anti-Masons  in  the  House  saw  that  their 
game  was  played  out,  and  raved  against  their  minor  asso- 
ciates for  their  want  of  sagacity  and  pluck.  That  was  the 
end  of  political  Anti-Masonry  in  Massachusetts. 

With  regard  to  the  law  against  extra-judicial  oaths,  I 
know  not  whether  any  case  of  sea-serpent  swearing  has 
been  arraigned  under  it ;  but  it  has  never  interfered  with 
the  peaceful  operation  of  the  ancient  and  honorable  insti- 
tution of  Masonry.  I  presume  no  case  has  been  brought 
before  the  Supreme  Court  to  call  out  a  regular  judicial 
decision  on  the  law  ;  but  the  most  eminent  Jurists  have,  on 
inquiries  proposed,  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  Legisla- 
ture has  no  Constitutional  power  to  prohibit  individuals 


240  nEF.  SYLVAXus   conn,  d.d. 

from  binding  themselves,  in  retirement,  to  solemn  obliga- 
tions to  each  other,  in  the  manner  of  an  oath. 

I  was  busil}^  attentive  to  the  business  of  the  Legislature 
in  general ;  but  no  other  subject  engaged  m}^  particular 
attention,  in  a  manner  to  render  it  an  appropriate  matter 
of  record  here. 

THE  TWIN   SONS. 

August  6t7i.  —  This  evening  we  were  presented  with  two 
fine,  healthy  sons.  All  well.  We  named  our  twin  sons 
Cyrus,  and  Darius  ;  and  in  these  names  they  were  publicly 
Dedicated  on  the  First  Sunday  in  Feb.,  1835. 

INSTALLATION   OF   REV.  WM.   H.   KNAPP. 

This  Brother  was  installed  over  the  First  Universalist 
Society  in  Danvers,  December  25tii.  It  devolved  upon 
me  to  offer  the  Installing  Prayer,  and  to  deliver  a  discourse 
in  the  evening. 

In  addition  to  my  regular  Parochial  duties-;  and  the  cus- 
tomary attention  to  Associational  occasions  ;  and  the  con- 
tinued lecturing  and  evangelizing  which  I  noted  in  the 
gross  on  pp.  201-208,  my  care,  from  year  to  j^ear,  imposed 
upon  me  no  little  responsibility,  sometimes  as  President  of 
the  Maiden  Lyceum,  wiiich  I  was  active  in  originating,  and 
generally  as  Chairman  of  the  Superintending  School  Com- 
mittee.    But  labor  has  ever  been  my  life. 

A.  D.    1835. 

This  winter  I  have  done  more  extra  service  than  usual 
in  the  form  of  lectures  before  Benevolent,  Literary  and 
Musical  Societies. 


A.    D.    1836.  241 


PIONEER  SERVICE   IN  BEVERLY,   MASS. 

April  1st.  —  I  preached  a  lecture  in  Beverly  Town  House, 
—  the  first  Universalist  discourse  delivered  in  that  ancient 
town.  There  was  a  crowded  audience  ;  and  the  interest  in 
the  faith  increased,  unto  the  organization  of  a  permanent 
societ}^ 

INSTALLATION  OF  BROS.  NOTES  AND  AUSTIN. 

April  8t7i  and  dth.  —  The  Union  Association  of  Univer- 
salists  was  in  session  in  Spencer,  Mass.  On  the  9th  Br. 
Oilman  Noyes,  one  of  my  theological  students,  was  in- 
stalled as  Pastor  of  the  Universalist  Society  in  Spencer, 
and  it  naturally  enough  was  assigned  to  me  to  preach  the 
Installation  Sermon. 

April  29th.  —  Rev.  J.  M.  Austin  was  installed  as  Pastor 
of  the  Universalist  Society  in  South  Danvers,  on  which 
occasion  Br.  Cobb  preached  the  Sermon  of  Installation. 

MASSACHUSETTS   CONVENTION. 

This  body  held  an  annual  session  in  Framingham,  June 
3d.  My  service  on  this  occasion  was,  as  per  previous  ap- 
pointment, the  delivery  of  the  "  Occasional  Sermon."  My 
text  was  Matt.  iv.  4  :  "But  he  answered  and  said.  It  is 
written,  Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every 
word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God."  The 
object  of  the  discourse  was  to  show,  that  the  whole  of  a 
man's  life  does  not  consist  in  the  supply  of  his  physical 
wants,  but  that  it  largely  consists  also  in  the  inheritance  of 
21 


242  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

the  principles  and  graces  of  the  gospel.  It  follows  that 
our  reasonable  appropriations  for  the  support  of  religious 
education,  are  as  truly  and  really  ministering  to  the  con- 
stitutional wants  of  men,  insomuch  as  to  constitute  an 
essential  part  of  their  living,  as  are  our  labors  for  ma- 
terial goods.  The  discourse  was  published  in  the  Trum- 
pet and  Universalist  Magazine  of  July  -ith,  1835. 

THE   JUBILEE. 

The  fiftieth  meeting  of  the  "  General  Convention  of 
Universalists  for  the  New  England  States  and  Others," 
was  held  in  Hartford,  Ct.,  on  September  IGth  and  17th. 
From  its  being  the  fiftieth  yearly  meeting,  we  called  it  the 
Jubilee.  Eighty  preachers  Avere  present ;  and  it  was  a 
most  interesting:  meetinoj.  It  was  here  that  I  met  for  the 
first  time  that  excellent  and  eminent  minister  of  the  word, 
Stephen  R.  Smith.  He  delivered  a  discourse  on  this  occa- 
sion. Commencing  in  a  natural  and  conversational,  and, 
I  must  confess,  rather  unpromising  manner,  he  warmed 
with  his  subject  as  he  advanced,  and  the  spirit  inspired  the 
language,  and  his  strain  became  one  of  surpassing  elo- 
quence. 

VISIT   TO   TROY. 

In  compliance  with  an  earnest  invitation  from  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Universalist  Society  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  I  jour- 
neyed on  from  Hartford,  wife  in  company,  to  that  young 
and  beautiful  city,  and  preached  there  the  succeeding  two 
Sundays.  At  the  close  of  the  afternoon  services  of  the 
second  Sunday,  the  Society  held  a  brief  meeting  b}^  notice 
■^rom  the  desk,  and  unanimously  voted  Br.  Cobb  a  call  for 


A.    D.    1S35.  243 

settlement  as  their  Pastor,  on  a  salary  of  $1,000.*  I  re- 
served my  answer  to  be  sent  them  by  letter,  on  a  subsequent 
day. 

Our  ride  home  from  Troy,  two  hundred  miles,  by  our 
private  carriage,  through  a  great  number  of  handsome 
villages,  and  in  the  range  of  much  beautiful  scenery,  was 
very  interesting. 

After  my  return  home,  my  study  was  of  course  much 
devoted  to  the  question  of  removal  to  Troy.  It  was  a 
difficult  question.  I  could  not,  but  with  painful  emotions, 
think  of  leaving  my  people  in  Maiden,  with  whom  I  had 
been  most  pleasantly  connected  more  than  seven  j^ears,  and 
so  pleasant,  and  in  many  respects  most  enviable  vicinity  as 
that  of  Boston.  I  had  no  occasion  of  dissatisfaction  with 
my  people,  except  in  the  circumstance  that  a  portion  of 
them  (including  none  who  had  been  leaders),  were  in  the 
way  of  thinking  that  all  the  society  interests  would  go 
along  prosperousl}^,  without  their  own  constant  personal 
attentions.  Then,  with  regard  to  Troy^  it  was  a  young, 
beautiful,  and  enterprising  city ;  our  society  there,  with  a 
beautiful  new  Church,  was  also  young  and  enterprising,  and 
I  imagined  that  I  should  find  there  a  pleasant  home,  and  a 
profitable  field  of  labor.  At  length  I  concluded  to  accept 
the  invitation,  and  wrote  accordingly. 

But  daily  contact  with  the  feelings  of  my  people  on  the 
subject,  and  further  consideration  of  the  proposed  change 
of  location,  furnished  me  with  the  "blues."  At  length  I 
received  a  private  letter  from  a  citizen  of  Troy,  informing 
me  that  the  Committee  of  that  society,  on  receiving  my 


♦These,  and  other  figixres  which  I  have  put  down  as  indicating  the  salaries 
which  were  proposed  to  me  by  societies,  will  look  small  to  city  readers  in  these 
hiter  times  of  high  salaries  adapted  to  greater  expensiveness  of  living.  But  in 
those  days,  and  those  localities,  they  were  respectable  ijropositions. 


244  nEV.   SYLVAXUS    cobb,  d.d. 

affirmative  answer,  fixing  on  the  next  April  for  ray  re- 
moval, engaged  Rev.  Menzies  Ra^-ner,  then  out  of  employ- 
ment, to  supply  the  desk  until  April.  Bat  they  did  not 
inform  him  that  I  was  engaged  to  come  unto  them  at  that 
time  ;  and,  after  moving  to  Troy,  and  learning  that  fact, 
he  complained  of  wrong  and  abuse,  alleging  that  he 
understood  his  supply  for  the  winter  was  to  be  in  the 
capacity  of  a  candidate  for  permanent  settlement.  My 
correspondent  said  that  Mr.  Rayner's  course  was  exciting 
the  sympathy  of  a  few  in  his  behalf;  though  none  were 
opposed  to  me  ;  that  it  was  creating  some  difficulty  between 
members  and  the  Committee,  and  he  thought  I  ought  to  be 
made  acquainted  with  the  facts.  I  at  once  wTote  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  subject,  and  asked  to  be  released  from  my 
engagement.  They  assured  me  that  no  change  of  feeling 
had  taken  place  in  relation  to  me  ;  that  it  would  be  of  no 
benefit  to  Mr.  Ra3'ner  for  me  to  withdraw ;  for,  if  he 
should  gain  a  settlement,  it  would  be  a  very  short  one. 
And  they  declined  to  release  me.  But,  after  the  inter- 
change of  a  few  more  letters,  I  positively  revoked  m}^  en- 
gagement ;  alleging  that  it  was  with  extreme  difficulty  that 
I  brought  my  mind  to  the  conclusion  to  move  to  Troj' ,  in 
view  of  all  matters  there  as  pleasant  and  harmonious  as 
they  were  when  I  left  that  city  in  September ;  and  that 
there  was  evidently  a  change  of  circumstances  in  some 
respects  affecting  the  social  elements  there,  and  I  had  deter- 
mined to  remain  in  Maiden. 

Note.  Mr.  Rayner  did  obtain  a  settlement  in  Troy ; 
and  it  was  a  very  short  one,  as  the  Committee  predicted. 
And  I  believe  that  a  kind  Providence  perpetuated  my  abode 
in  a  vicinage  in  which  my  best  life  mission  should  be 
served. 


A.    D.    1836.  245 

THE  BOSTON  ASSOCIATION 

Held  a  session  in  Stoughton  November  4?/i,  when  Br. 
Cobb  preached  the  Occasional  Sermon.  Br.  Isaac  Brown 
was  ordained  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  ;  and  Brs.  J.  W. 
Talbot,  and  Horace  W.  Morse,  my  theological  students,  — 
and  also  Br.  Joseph  B.  Morse, — received  Letters  of  Fel- 
lowship  as  preachers  of  the  gospel. 

.  My  Diar}^  throughout  closes  each  year  with  a  paragraph 
of  moralizing,  and  now  and  then  I  have  copied  one  into 
this  book  of  records.     I  will  copy  another  here  :  — 

"  Decemher  ^\st.  —  This  day  closes  another  j^ear.  My  family, 
consisting  of  myself,  wife,  and  nine  children,  including  the 
adopted  niece,  have  enjoyed  almost  uninterrupted  health  during 
the  year ;  and  nothing  has  occurred  to  mar  our  haj^piness.  We 
(myself  and  wife)  have  journeyed  considerably,  and  enjoyed 
the  intercourse  of  many  friends,  far  and  near.  Our  friends  in 
our  own  society,  remain  united  and  steadfast ;  and  we  have  been 
overcoming  the  prejudice  and  gaining  the  personal  friendship 
of  the  members  of  other  religious  societies.  My  movement 
towards  the  change  of  my  pastoral  relation  from  Maiden  to 
Troy,  N.  Y.,  has  called  the  attention  of  not  a  few  here  to  a  more 
serious  study  of  their  personal  duties  to  society  and  the  cause  of 
truth,  which  is  working  out  favorable  results." 


A.  D.   1836. 

THE    COUNCIL    ON   THE   TEMPERANCE    LECTURE. 

I  had  an  engagement  to  preach  in  a  School  House  in 
"West  Newbury  on  The  First  Sunday  in  January.  A 
friend  of  the  temperance  cause  in  that  place,  being  informed 
of  my  Sabbath  engagement,  conferred  with  me  on  the  ques- 
tion of  delivering  a  Temperance  Address  in  the  town  Sat- 
urday evening.  I  consented  to  do  so.  He  then  laid  the 
21* 


24G  EEV.    SYLVAXUS    COBB,    D.D. 

matter  before  the  Temperance  Society.  The  President,  at 
a  subsequent  meeting  of  the  society,  where  he  presented 
the  matter,  together  with  a  request  that  the  lecture  should 
be  delivered  in  the  Calvinist  Church  or  Vestry,  requested 
that  all  Universalists  present  might  retire.  Then,  as 
report  from  among  themselves  discloses  it,  the  question 
was  raised,  "  What  effect  will  it  have  upon  our  religious 
societ}^,  to  admit  Mr.  Cobb  into  our  Meeting  House  to  lec- 
ture on  temperance  ?  "  Some  said  that  it  would  call  in  the 
more  of  their  people ;  and,  if  they  should  be  pleased  with 
the  lecture,  they  might  be  induced  to  go  and  hear  the  lec- 
turer in  his  religious  discourses  on  the  Sabbath.  But  they 
deemed  it  not  prudent  to  refuse  their  countenance  to  the 
Temperance  Address  ;  the  Church  was  opened  on  the  occa- 
sion, and  we  had  an  interesting  meeting  ;  as  we  had  also  in 
the  School  House  on  the  Sabbath. 


INSTALLATION   OF   REV.   J.   GREGORY. 

January  21  til. — Rev.  John  Gregory  was  installed  this 
evening,  as  Pastor  of  the  Universalist  Society  in  Woburn ; 
on  which  occasion  it  was  assigned  to  Br.  Cobb  to  deliver 
the  Charge. 

PARISH  ACTIVITY. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  increased  activity  in  our  home 
society  which  was  excited  by  the  movement  towards  my 
change  of  location  from  Maiden  to  Troy,  N.  Y.  So  soon, 
I  have  the  following  minute  in  my  Journal :  — 

''February  2d.  —  This  evening  several  of  the  members  of  my 
society  met  at  my  house,  to  deliberate  on  the  subject  of  making 
extensive  alterations  in  the  Meeting  House.  There  is  a  prospect 
that  the  alteration  will  be  effected." 


A.    D,    1836.  247 

ESSEX   COUNTY   CONFERENCE. 

April  20th.  —  I  attended  a  meeting  of  this  Conference  at 
Danvers  New  Mills,  and  delivered  a  discourse.  This  con- 
ference was  an  ecclesiastical  organization  for  Essex 
County,  of  the  same  grade  with  the  County  Associations. 

THE   EDITORIAL   OFFICE. 

May  16t7i.  —  By  the  solicitation  of  Rev.  T.  G.  Farns- 
worth,  of  Haverhill,  the  proprietor  of  a  religious  and 
literary  family  newspaper,  entitled  The  Gospel  Sun,  pub- 
lished in  Haverhill,  and  edited  by  Rev.  Otis  A.  Skinner  of 
that  place,  I  entered  into  an  arrangement  with  him  for  a 
year,  to  act  as  Associate  Editor,  with  Br.  Skinner.  This 
position  involved  an  additional  department  of  care  and 
labor. 

DEDICATION  IN   SAUGUS. 

May  19i7i.  —  The  remodelled  Universalist  Meeting  House 
in  Saugus  was  Dedicated  to-da}^  Br.  S.  Cobb  preached 
the  Sermon ;  Br.  Hosea  Ballon  offered  the  Dedicatory 
Prayer ;  and  Br.  T.  Whittemore  delivered  the  Address  to 
the  Society. 

THE   MERRIMAC   RIVER  ASSOCIATION, 

Met  in  Goffstown,  N.  H.,  May  26th.  On  this  occasion 
Br.  T.  J.  Tenney  was  set  apart  to  the  work  of  the  ministry 
by  Ordination,  —  of  the  services  of  which  it  fell  to  my 
happy  lot  to  preach  the  Sermon,  and  to  offer  the  Ordination 
Prayer.  I  lectured  on  temperance  in  this  place  on  the  pre- 
ceding evening,  and  this  evening,  after  the  services  of  the 
Association,  I  rode  over  to  Hollis,  and  delivered  a  religious 
lecture  in  that  place. 


248  nEV.    SYLVANUS     CODB^    D.D. 


MASSACHUSETTS  CONVENTION. 

Jane  '2d.  —  This  bod}^  met  in  Wrcntbam.  Br.  Horace 
"SY.  Morse,  one  of  my  theological  students,  and  Br.  James 
C.  Burt,  received  Ordination,  in  the  services  of  which  it 
■was  my  privilege  to  give  the  Charge. 


THE  MALDEN   CHURCH   REMODELLED  AND  RE- 
DEDICATED. 

June  29tJi.  —  So  soon  after  its  inception.is  this  important 
reconstruction  consummated.  The  interior  of  the  old 
Brick  Church  was  somewhat  out  of  repair,  and  it  was  diffi- 
cult to  warm  it  comfortably  in  cold  weather.  Now  the 
galleries,  tall  pulpit,  and  old-fashioned  square  pews  were 
all  taken  out ;  a  second  floor  was  put  in  about  twelve  feet 
above  the  ground-floor,  making  a  large  hall  and  vestry, 
with  anterooms,  below,  and  a  beautiful  audience  room  for 
public  worship,  in  the  upper  story.  On  this  day,  Jime 
29t7i,  it  was  rededicated,  by  appropriate  religious  services. 
Invocation  by  Rev.  J.  C.  Waldo ;  Scripture  Lesson,  by 
Rev.  J.  Banfield ;  Sermon,  by  Rev.  Tho.  Whittemore ; 
Dedicatory  Prayer,  by  Rev.  H.  Ballou  ;  Address  to  the 
Societ}^  by  Rev.  T.  F.  King  ;  and  the  Concluding  Pra}- er 
by  Rev.  S.  Streeter. 

The  following  paragraph  in  my  private  Journal  is  ap- 
pended to  the  record  of  these  services  :  — 

"  Tliis  society  appears  to  be  in  a  more  flourishing  condition 
than  ever  before.  It  was  upon  my  decision  to  give  up  moving  to 
Troy,  N.  Y.,  last  winter,  that  they  undertook  this  plan  of  im- 
provement in  the  Church.  Doubtless  a  wise  Providence  will 
overrule  for  good  the  circumstance  to  which  I  refer.  I  then 
thought  that  I  might  be  more  useful  in  Troy ;  but  now  my  labors 


A.    B.    1S36.  249 

seem  to  be  abnndantly  blessed  in  this  jilace ;  and  I  regard  my 
situation  as  being  in  a  wide  field  of  useful  labor.  May  the  Lord 
continue  to  smile  upon  us  in  love."     • 


THE   TEMPERANCE   AGENCY. 

About  the  middle  of  August,  Rev.  Mr.  Wilder,  the 
Orthodox  clergyman  of  Concord,  Mass.,  and  Dr.  Cutter, 
Deacon  of  the  Orthodox  church  of  Woburn,  called  at  my 
house,  and  introduced  themselves  as  a  Sub-Committee  from 
the  General  Committee  of  the  Middlesex  County  Temper- 
ance Society,  on  the  business  of  procuring  a  Lecturing 
Agent  for  that  Society.  They  had  heard  much  of  my 
labors  as  a  temperance  lecturer  on  my  own  responsibility  ; 
and  they  had  called  in  the  hope  that  they  might  engage  me 
in  the  service  of  their  Society. 

I  answered  them  that  I  was  not  willing  to  enter  into  any 
engagement  which  would  interfere  with  my  regular  minis- 
terial labors  on  the  Sabbath;  but  I  would  consider  any 
proposition  they  might  make  for  week  day  and  evening 
service  for  the  Middlesex  Society.  We  agreed  on  terms  ; 
and  I  engaged,  for  a  year,  to  devote  an  average  of  three 
days  and  evenings  a  week  to  the  temperance  cause,  and  to 
lecture  frequently  on  Sunday  evenings.  And  I  was  to  have 
in  my  own  hands  the  arrangement  with  regard  to  the  par- 
ticular days  and  evenings  which  I  should  appropriate  to 
this  service,  that  I  might  adjust  my  labors  in  different 
spheres  to  the  best  advantage. 

And  now,  what  thinks  the  reader  of  my  success  in  reliev- 
ing myself  of  much  lecturing,  and  extra  service,  b}^  remov- 
ing from  Maine  to  Massachusetts  ?  *    I  went  earnestly  into 


*  There  is  a  point  beyond  which  the  most  powerful  physical  frame  cannot  with 
safety  be  urged;  and  Mr.  Cobb  had  reached  that  point  years  before  this  time; 


250  PiEV.    SYLVANUS    COHn,    D.D. 

the  work  ;  lectured  in  the  service  of  the  Middlesex  County 
Temperance  Societ}^  a  year  as  per  contract.  Then  I  was 
re-elected  to  the  same  office  by  the  Society  at  its  annual 
meeting,  for  another  year ;  and  in  the  second  year  I  per- 
formed as  great  an  amount  of  labor.  During  this  second 
year  the  public  sentiment  of  the  State,  acting  through  the 
Legislature,  enacted  the  prohibitive  statute  which  was 
called  the  Fifteen  Gallon  Laio.  It  prohibited  the  sale  of 
alcoholic  liquors  in  less  than  fifteen  gallon  packages,  which 
were  the  smallest  packages  in  which  liquors  were  allowed 
to  be  imported.  Determined  efforts  were  made~by  the 
rum-sellers  and  their  coadjutors  to  prevent  the  enforcement 
of  the  law  ;  wherefore  the  Middlesex  Society  appointed  a 
Committee  of  legal  gentlemen,  of  which  Hon.  Samuel  Hoar 
was  Chairman,  to  aid  its  enforcement  in  our  count}^.  As  I 
had  been  two  years  laboring  in  the  count}',  lecturing  over 
and  over  in  all  the  towns  and  most  of  the  school  districts, 
this  Legal  Committee  emplo3^ed  me  for  another  year,  to 
continue  my  service  as  the  Lecturing  Agent,  and  to  co-op- 
erate with  them,  and  with  the  Temperance  Societies,  in  the 
uniform  enforcement  of  the  law.  And  these  efforts  were 
attended  with  a  good  degree  of  success.  Nevertheless,  in 
about  a  year  afterwards,  a  repeal  of  that  statute  resulted 
from  political  entanglements. 

The  labors  of  these  three  years  in  the  Agency  of  the 
Middlesex  Temperance  Society  were  enormous.  The  lec- 
tures were  not  little  thirty  minute  essays.  In  that  stage 
of  the  temperance  reform,  there  were  ignorance,  and  preju- 

and  now  he  overstepped  it.    I  can  remember  very  well  that  he  went  often  away 

to  lecture  on  Temperance  when  he  should  have  been  at  home  recuperating  his 

already  exhausted  energies ;  and  I  can  remember,  also,  how  he  used  to  make 

light  of  his  sufferings  from  colds  and  fatigue,  so  that  his  wife  might  not  be 

alarmed.    I  feel  sure  that  the  trouble  which  terminated  his  existence  had  its 

origin  as  far  back  as  this. 

The  Memoirist. 


A.    D.    1836-38.  251 

dice,  and  hostility  to  be  encountered  ;  —  and  old  customs 
of  all  classes,  good,  bad  and  indifferent,  were  to  be  revolu- 
tionized ;  and  the  necessary  argument  could  not  be  com- 
pressed within  a  shorter  space  of  time  than  an  hour.  Gen- 
erally my  lectures  exceeded  an  hour,  and  were  of  necessity 
uttered  in  what  I  felt,  an  earnest  spirit.  I  circulated  the 
pledge,  the  "  Teetotal"  pledge,  at  the  close  of  every  lecture, 
and,  in  all,  thousands  of  names  were  won,  and  manj^  new 
societies  were  organized.  I  worked  over  even  the  old  tem- 
perance societies,  advancing  them  from  the  partial  pledge, 
discarding  distilled  spirits  only,  to  the  thorough  pledge, 
discarding,  as  a  beverage,  all  intoxicating  liquors,  distilled 
and  fermented.  And,  besides  my  public  lectures,  I  labored 
much  in  conversation  with  individuals  at  their  homes. 
And  I  called  upon  most  of  the  taverners,  victuallers  and 
grocers  in  the  county,  and  labored  with  them  on  the  sub- 
ject of  their  voluntar}^  abandonment  of  the  liquor-traffic. 
They  treated  me  respectfuU}^,  and  generally  professed  a 
desire  to  be  rid  of  that  branch  of  their  business.  "But," 
each  one  would  say,  "  if  I  refuse  to  supply  my  customers 
with  liquor,  and  others  around  me  sell  it,  my  customers 
will  go  to  others,  not  only  for  their  liquor,  but  with  all 
their  custom  ;  so  that  I  shall  suffer  loss  without  any  good 
result,  as  no  less  liquor  will  be  sold.  But  prohibit  the 
business  by  law,  and  it  will  be  impartial ;  and  will  relieve 
me  from  liability  to  complaint  from  my  customers."  But, 
when  such  just  and  impartial  law  obtained,  it  did  not  i^lease 
them. 

THE   THREATENED   MOB. 

There  was  quite  a  rowdy  set  of  tippling  hangers-on  about 
the  tavern  in  Bedford  Village.  One  evening  when  I  had  a 
lecture  in  the  Unitarian  Church  in  that  Village,  as  I  was 


252  hev.  sylvanus   cobb,  d.d. 

about  to  commence  the  services,  I  observed  the  entrance 
into  the  vestibule  of  a  company  of  rough-looking  men,  with 
shouldered  canes,  deploying  in  military  style,  and  separat- 
ing into  two  parties,  which  took  their  stands  at  the  two 
doors  opening  from  the  vestibule  into  the  Church.  It  was 
obvious  to  ni}'  perceptions  that  mischief  was  intended.  I 
arose  and  offered  a  few  introductory  remarks,  solemnly 
stating  the  purpose  of  the  meeting,  and  recognizing  the 
relations  sustained  by  the  people  present,  as  husbands, 
wives,  fathers,  mothers,  children,  brothers,  sisters,  and 
members  of  societ}^,  —  and  the  duties  and  privileges  which 
appertained  to  all  those  relations,  with  the  due  observance 
and  improvement  of  which  was  associated  peace,  prosperity 
and  happiness, — and  from  the  disregard  of  which  pro- 
ceeded wretchedness  and  ruin.  These  suspicious  charac- 
ters looked,  and  looked,  with  raised  faces  and  parted  lips  ; 
and  one  after  another  moved  softl}^  in  and  took  seat  in  a 
pew,  until  one  was  left  standing  alone,  who  turned  and 
went  away.  I  learned  after  the  dismission  of  the  meeting 
that  my  suspicions  did  the  party  no  injustice.  They  agreed 
(about  a  dozen  of  them),  in  the  tavern,  to  go  into  the 
Church  and  break  up  the  meeting,  by  annoying  me,  and 
irritating  me  to  some  words  or  acts  which  they  would  make 
an  occasion  for  dragging  me  out.  But  we  had  an  exceed- 
ingly happy  and  profitable  meeting. 

TEMPERANCE  BETTER  THAN  FARMS. 

On  a  cold  November  evening,   in  the  Baptist  Meetings 
House  in  West  Chelmsford,  at  the  close  of  the  lecture,  while 
the  pledge  was  being  circulated,  and  many  were  signing  it, 
I  observed  that  a  lady  was  earnestly  entreating  a  gentle- 
man, whom  I  took  to  be  her  husband,  to  give  the  pledge  his 


A,    D.    1836-38.  253 

signature.  He  was  an  amiable  man,  with  a  young  familj^, 
fast  wasting  himself  by  intemperance.  As  I  was  about 
retiring,  the  lady  besought  me  to  call  with  them  at  their 
house,  which  was  near  the  church.  I  endeavored  to  per- 
suade her  husband  to  sign  the  pledge.  I  urged  him  for  his 
own  sake,  and  for  the  sake  of  his  wife  and  lovely  children, 
who  were  gathered  imploring^  around  him,  and  by  other 
important  considerations,  to  comply  with  their  wishes.  He 
oflfered  several  excuses,  w^hich  I  disposed  of,  and  at  last  he 
objected  to  signing  so  hastily,  because  whatever  he  pledged 
himself  to,  he  calculated  to  fulfil.  "  That,"  I  replied,  "  is 
the  best  of  reasons  why  j^ou  should  sign  the  temperance 
pledge  now.  If  I  had  no  hope  of  j^our  keeping  the  pledge 
I  should  not  care  to  have  j^ou  sign  it.  But  you  have 
acknowledged  that  the  pledge  is  good  if  kept :  and  now 
you  say  that  if  3'ou  sign  it  j^ou  shall  keep  it ;  therefore  this 
is  the  very  moment  to  sign  it,  and  secure  the  good." 

He  beckoned  his  wife  for  the  pen,  which  was  instantly 
passed ;  when  he  as  instantly  signed  the  pledge,  writing 
down  his  name  with  an  emphasis.  Then  there  was  great  joy 
in  that  house.  The  wife  and  children  cried  for  joy.  I  vras 
happy  to  learn  from  time  to  time,  that  he  was  honoring  that 
pledge,  and  the  joy  of  his  family  was  not  turned  to  worm- 
wood. 

A  year  from  the  next  March  I  was  riding  through  the 
neighborhood ;  and,  coming  within  sight  of  the  reformed 
man's  house,  I  saw  him  at  work  in  his  door-yard,  chopping 
and  piling  a  liberal  supply  of  firewood  for  the  season.  I 
rode  into  his  yard,  and,  after  a  cordial  greeting,  I  said  to 
him,  "Well,  friend,  C,  how  do  3'ou  like  the  pledge?" 
'•''Like  it!"  he  replied,  "/  would  not  he  hack  luhere  I ivas 
when  you  called  upon  me  a  year  ago  last  fall,  for  the  hest 
22 


254  REV.    SYLVAXUS     COBB,    D.D. 

farm  in  Chelmsford.     No  !  not  for  two  of  the  best  farms  in 
Chelmsford  luoidd  I  be  there  again.'* 

This  testimony  to  the  value  of  temperance  requires  no 
comment. 


TO   THE  GENERAL  COURT   AGAIN. 

At  the  annual  State  Election,  November  lUh,  1836, 1  was 
again  elected  as  Maiden's  Representative  to  the  Massachu- 
setts General  Court. 

This  election  was  without  my  consent  and  against  my 
choice.  When  my  friends  had  spoken  with  me  on  the  sub- 
ject, I  had  declined  the  candidacy,  and  insisted  that  I 
must  not  be  put  in  nomination.  I  had  several  reasons  for 
my  refusal,  which  I  frankly  stated.  First,  the  duties  which 
had  devolved  upon  me  by  the  two  important  offices  which 
I  held,  that  of  Pastor  of  the  First  Parish  in  Maiden,  and 
that  of  Lecturing  Agent  of  the  Middlesex  Temperance 
Societj",  were  sufficient  for  me.  I  was  unwilling  to  take 
upon  myself,  even  for  a  few  months,  the  additional  respon- 
sibilities of  the  proposed  political  office.  Li  the  second 
place,  my  known  preference  between  the  candidates  for  the 
Presidency  in  the  election  of  the  same  da}^,  would  subject 
me  to  misrepresentation,  and  bring  me  into  collision  with 
the  political  party  feelings  of  some  of  my  choicest  friends. 
This  was  my  situation :  A  Republican  from  the  begin- 
ning, I  would  not  go  with  the  majority  of  that  party  when, 
under  the  name  of  Democrats,  they  ran  Gen.  Jackson  into 
the  Presidency  ;  because  I  would  never  act  as  a  mere  party 
man,  but  guided  m}^  course  by  ray  views  of  the  public 
weal.  I  regarded  J.  Q.  Adams  a  more  eminently  qualified 
man  to  serve  the  national  honor  and  interest  in  the  Chief 
Magistracy. 


A.    D.    1836.  255 

But,  as  I  explained  to  m}^  Maiden  friends  when  tlie}^  con- 
ferred with  me  on  the  question  of  m}^  candidacj^  in  1832, 
Gen.  Jackson  exceeded  my  expectations.  And  though'  I 
did  not  receive  all  his  political  doctrines,  he  had  put  in 
process  of  development  some  methods  of  national  policy 
w^hich  the  advancement  and  complications  of  the  business 
interests  of  the  country  forced  upon  our  attention,  which  1 
wished  to  see  further  tested  by  Mr.  Van  I>uren  as  his  suc- 
cessor. There  was  hot  with  me  any  change  in  regard  to 
essential  political  doctrines  ;  but  a  desire  to  see  further 
tested  some  important  experiments  on  matters  upon  which 
the  business  machinerj^  of  the  country  was  getting  settled 
down.  But  the  technical  politicians  are  incapable  of  com- 
prehending that  an  honest  man  ma}^  act  for  an  idea^  inde- 
pendently of  party  considerations  ;  or  that  an  advancement 
to  new  forms  of  action  demanded  by  an  advancement  in  the 
relations  and  interests  of  the  country,  is  not  identical  with 
a  change  of  political  principles.  Knowing  this,  it  was  my 
desire,  at  this  juncture,  to  remain  and  act,  politicall}^,  in 
my  capacity  as  a  private  citizen. 

On  the  Saturda}'  before  the  election,  which  was  Monda}", 
I  went  to  Haverhill  for  an  exchange  of  Sabbath  services 
with  Rev.  T.  G.  Farnsworth.  As  I  was  starting  out  from 
home,  with  my  private  carriage,  I  was  met  by  my  friend, 
the  Chairman  of  the  Democratic  Town  Committee,  who 
earnestly  inquired  w^hether  I  would  not  consent  to  be  nom- 
inated for  the  Legislature,  I  replied  that  I  would  not ;  and 
charged  him  to  let  my  name  alone  in  that  relation.  Nev- 
ertheless, when  I  reached  my  home,  Monday  noon,  just 
before  the  time  for  opening  the  town  meeting,  my  family 
informed  me  that  the  Democratic  caucus,  at  11  o'clock 
Saturday  evening,  put  me  in  nomination  for  the  office  of 
Representative.     And  I  was  elected.     And  my  noble  friend. 


256  nEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

Cliainnaii,  I  believe,  of  my  Parish  Committee,  wlio  called 
and  persuaded  me  to  accept  the  nomination  in  1832,  and 
who  was  now  the  candidate  on  the  opposite  ticket,  all  nn- 
known  to  me,  conld  not  help  being  hurt  b}'  my  election, 
and  permitting  his  feelings  to  become  alienated  from  me. 
I  regretted  it ;  but  I  could  not  censure  m3^self  for  aught 
that  I  had  done  or  said  in  the  premises. 

INSTALLATION  AND  DEDICATION,  IN  HYANNIS 
AND   YARMOUTHPORT. 

Novemher  23cZ.  —  I  preached  the  Sermon  of  the  Installa- 
tion of  Br.  George  Hastings,  another  of  my  theological 
students,  over  the  Universalist  Societ}^  in  Ilyannis.  And 
on  the  succeeding  day,  the  24th,  a  new  Universalist  Meeting 
House  in  Yarmouthport  was  Dedicated,  Rev.  T.  Whitte- 
more  preaching  the  Dedicatory  Sermon.  This  service  was 
held  in  the  morning ;  and  the  writer  delivered  a  discourse 
in  the  afternoon. 

From  this  Dedicatory  and  Ordination  mission  to  Cape 
Cod,  I  returned  to  my  accustomed  field  of  labor,  and  filled 
up  the  measure  of  the  j^ear  with  continued  work  in  the 
ofijces  of  Christian  Pastor  and  Temperance  Lecturing  Agent. 
And  in  both  these  capacities  I  felt  that  I  had  the  blessing 
of  the  Father,  —  whose  injunction  upon  us,  through  his 
inspired  servant  is,  "  To  do  good,  and  to  communicate, 
forget  not ;  for  with  such  sacrifices  God  is  well  pleased." 


A.    D,    183?.  257 

A.  D.    1837. 

January,  Febkuary,  March,  and  April  to  the  20Tn. 

IN   THE  LEGISLATURE. 

Having  been  elected  to  represent  Maiden  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts Legislature  the  current  year,  the  term  of  time 
above  denoted  was  employed  in  that  service.  This  was 
a  somewhat  severe  extra  service,  as  I  did  not  neglect  either 
my  legitimate  attentions  to  my  Parish,  or  to  the  Middlesex 
Temperance  Society,  so  far  as  the  evening  lectures  were 
concerned.  I  did  find  it  necessar}?-,  however,  to  suspend 
the  lecturing  about  a  fortnight,  when,  as  a  member  of  the 
Committee  on  Prisons,  I  was  on  an  investigation  of  affairs 
in  the  State  Prison,  which  occupied  afternoons  and  even- 
ings. 

There  were  several  subjects  of  legislation,  which  were 
important  at  the  time,  on  which  I  took  an  active  part  in 
debate ;  but  this  matter  of  State  Prison  investigation  im- 
posed upon  me  the  greatest  amount  of  labor. 

I  being  Chairman,  on  the  part  of  the  House,  of  the  Joint 
Standing  Committee  on  Prisons  and  Prison  Discipline,  sev- 
eral letters  were  addressed  to  me,  some  from  persons  in 
their  own  name,  intimately  conversant  with  the  affairs  of  the 
State  Prison,  and  others  anonymous,  representing  that  there 
were  serious  errors  in  the  internal  management  of  its  affairs 
by  the  Prison  Government.  At  length  I  moved  in  the  House 
an  Order,  which  was  passed,  and  concurred  in  by  the  Sen- 
ate, instructing  the  aforesaid  Committee  to  investigate  those 
affairs.  We  spent  nine  afternoons  and  evenings  in  the 
Prison,  on  this  business.  But  I  found  that  there  was  quite 
a  difference  between  reported  miscellaneous  conversations 
of  men,  and  the  testimon}^  of  the  same  men  under  oath. 
22* 


258  nEV.  SYLVAyus   cobb,  t>.d. 

Persons  who  had  been  oiTieers  in  the  State  Prison  had 
furnished  me  in  writing  witli  the  names  of  officers  then  in 
subordinate  departments  who  wonkl  testify  against  the 
administration  of  the  Warden,  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  with  the 
substance  of  the  testimonies  they  would  give.  But,  when 
on  the  Witness  Stand,  they  did  not  fuU}^  sustain  the  repre- 
sentations which  were  furnished  me  in  advance,  of  their 
testimony.  It  was  evident  that  there  had  been  errors  com- 
mitted in  the  government  of  the  Prison.  But,  upon  careful 
examination,  it  did  not  appear  to  me,  who  vv^as  the  most 
severe,  in  my  judgment  of  the  Warden,  of  all  the  members 
of  the  Committee,  that  there  was  sufficient  cause  for  expul- 
sion from  office  ;  and  the  Report  of  the  Committee  was  in 
accordance  with  this  view. 

The  Report,  was  presented  by  Mr.  Gurney,  Chairman 
on  the  part  of  the  Senate  ;  but  it  was  probably  drawn  up 
by  Mr.  Adan,  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Inspectors.  It 
contained  two  or  three  statements  to  which  I  objected,  and 
which  Mr.  Gurney  crossed  with  pencil,  and  promised  to 
strike  out.  But,  when  I  subsequently  saw  the  Report  in 
print,  I  perceived  that  the  objectionable  sentences  were 
there.  I  was  not  in  my  seat  when  the  Report  was  read  in 
the  House  ;  or  I  should  have  moved  the  re-committal  of  it, 
for  the  making  of  the  corrections.  One  of  the  objectionable 
sentences  I  repudiated  in  vindication  of  my  own  common 
sense.  I  mention  it,  because  the  Report  is  in  various 
public  and  private  Libraries,  and  some  of  my  friends  who 
will  read  this,  may  have  occasion  to  run  their  eyes  over 
that.  In  opposition  to  the  charge  against  the  Warden  of 
furnishing  to  the  prisoners  inferior  and  unsuitable  provis- 
ions, the  Report  says  for  the  Committee,  "  We  have  visited 
the  Prison,  and  eaten  of  the  provisions,"  &c.  Since  the 
Order  for  this  investigation  had  been  published  in  time  to 


A.  n.  1837.  259 

afford  the  Warden  ample  opportunity  to  prepare  for  our 
scrutiny,  tliis  official  announcement,  that  we  had  eaten  of 
the  meats  which  were  provided  for  our  examination  and 
found  them  good,  as  proof  that  the  provisions  furnished  the 
prisoners  had  alwaj^s  been  up  to  the  legal  standard,  is  so 
utterly  silly  and  senseless,  that  I  was  exceedingly  mortified 
with  seeing  my  own  official  signature  attached  to  it  in 
print,  and  in  a  permanent  public  document.  But  we  often 
have  our  lessons  of  wisdom  set  to  us  in  experience. 

This  investigation,  though  it  did  not  result  in  what  was 
doubtless  the  wish  of  the  prime  movers  in  its  pix)curement, 
viz.,  the  removal  of  the  Warden,  had  evidently  a  good  effect 
in  the  way  of  correcting  some  descriptions  of  maladminis- 
tration in  the  government  of  the  Prison. 

MIDDLESEX   BRIDGE. 

The  Charter  of  this  bridge,  for  obtaining  which  I  was 
elected  to  the  General  Court  for  1834,  expired  this  winter 
by  its  own  limitation  to  three  years  for  building ;  and 
at  this  session  I  procured  an  extension  of  time  for  its 
construction.  Then,  in  concurrence  with  the  sentiments 
of  my  Maiden  friends,  and  with  the  aid  of  a  Committee 
of  citizens,  an  arrangement  was  effected  with  the  old 
Maiden  Bridge  proprietors,  by  which  they  adopted  and 
forthwith  procured,  the  Legislature  to  confirm  unto  them,  a 
change  of  their  charter  to  render  it  precisely  like  ours. 
Thus  they  constituted  theirs  a  self-creating  free  bridge  con- 
cern. This  was  well  for  them ;  for  the  new  bridge  would 
have  rendered  theirs  as  a  property  worthless.  And  it  was 
well  for  the  public  that  was  interested  in  this  line  of 
travel ;  for,  by  securing  all  the  custom  to  one  bridge,  it 
was  the  sooner  bought  up  by  the  excess  of  tolls  above 


260  JREF.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

expenses.  In  a  few  j^ears  the  appraised  value  of  Maiden 
Bridge  was  paid  to  the  proprietors  out  of  the  tolls,  and  the 
bridge,  all  but  the  space  for  draws  for  navigation,  was 
built  anew  of  solid  stone  and  gravel  from  the  same  re- 
source, —  and  made  free. 

mainp:  convention. 

This  body  held  a  session  in  Turner,  June  28t7i  and  20tJi. 
It  was  a  great  meeting.  There  w^ere  twenty  preachers  in 
attendance ;  and  such  a  multitude  of  people  gathered 
together,  that  only  the  females  could  be  accommodated  in 
our  large  Meeting  House.  Meetings  were  held  simulta- 
neousl}^,  some  hours  of  the  second  day.  On  the  28th  it 
was  assigned  to  me  to  preach  in  the  Baptist  Meeting 
House  at  5  o'clock  p.  m.,  while  Br.  Hawkins  preached  in 
the  Town  House.  On  Thursday,  the  29th,  I  preached  in 
our  Meeting  House  in  the  afternoon,  and  delivered  the  then 
customary  Valedictory  Addresses. 

"THERE   IS   NO   PLACE   LIKE   HOME." 

THE    DISAPPOINTMENT. 

After  the  Convention  at  Turner,  I  preached  on  the  suc- 
ceeding Sunday  in  Norway ;  and  tarried  for  a  few  visits 
there,  purposing  to  take  a  water  passage  from  Portland  to 
Boston  on  the  night  before  Independence,  and  spend  that 
consecrated  day  with  my  family.  But  I  was  sadly  disap- 
pointed ;  and  how  sadly  I  cannot  so  well  describe  as  by 
inserting  here  the  following  scrip,  all  but  the  closing  part 
of  which  I  wrote  in  a  secluded  store  chamber  in  Portland, 
on  that  consecrated  day  itself :  — 


A.    B.    1837.  261 


•*  Capt.  Churchill's  Counting  Room, 
"Portland,  July  4:th,  1837. 

"  This  is  such  a  Fourth  of  Jidij  as  I  never  spent  before.  I  am 
lonesome;  I  am  afflicted.  And  why?  My  health  is  good  ;  the 
weather  is  fair ;  and  there  are  many  friends  in  the  city  disj)osed 
to  do  anything  in  their  power  to  make  my  time  jDass  agreeably. 
Yes ;  but  T  am  not  with  that  friend  with  whom  I  expected  to 
spend  this  Birth-Day  of  American  INDEPENDENCE.  I 
have  it  not  in  my  power  to  aid  and  Avitness  the  enjoyment  of 
that  lovely  brood  of  little  ones,  in  whose  veins  my  own  blood 
flows,  —  and  in  whom,  with  their  angel  mother,  is  my  earthly 
life  bomid  up. 

"I  came  here  last  evening,  from  my  attendance  on  the  Maine 
Convention,  and  my  visit  to  relatives,  in  Oxford  County,  expect- 
ing to  embark  at  7  o'clock  by  the  steamer  Portland  to  arrive  at 
Boston  this  morning.  By  previous  arrangement,  my  wife  was 
to  come  over  to  Br.  T.  F.  King's,  in  Charlestown,  this  morning, 
with  my  horse  and  chaise  to  convey  me  home ;  and  I  was  to 
meet  her  there  at  ten  o'clock.  But  on  my  arrival  at  tliis  city 
(Portland),  I  was  informed  that  the  steamer  Portland  was  under 
repair  at  Boston  ;  and  there  is  no  boat  going  until  7  o'clock  this 
evening.  I  was  stricken,  and  afflicted.  I  could  not  shake  off 
the  sadness  of  my  disappointment.  But  I  went,  according  to 
previous  engagement,  and  took  sujiper  with  my  old  friend  and 
playmate,  Lewis  Crocket.  Talking  over  the  affairs  of  our  juve- 
nile years  whiled  away  an  hour  of  time.  And  I  called  upon  Br. 
D.  D.  Smith;  and  then  went  and  took  lodgings  with  Capt. 
Isaac  Nutter,  where  I  lost  the  suffering  of  my  disappointment 
in  a  comfortable  night's  sleep. 

"I  awoke,  this  Independence-Day  morning,  refreshed ;  and, 
after  breakfast,  I  walked  to  the  barber's,  on  Fore  Street,  and 
'  there  learned  that  the  steamer  Neio  England  had  been  gone  for 
Boston  but  about  twenty  minutes,  having  put  in  last  evening, 
contrary  to  her  custom,  and  tarried  until  this  morning.  Then 
did  my  spirits  fall  again  under  jDainful  'regret  that  I  had  not 
known  to  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity  of  a  day  passage,  and 
by  the  same  means  get  to  my  dear  companion  and  children  this 
evening.  I  walked  the  streets  a  few  minutes ;  but  I  could  not 
look  up ;  I  could  not  seek  the  fiices  of  my  friends  in  this  city. 


262  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBE,    D.D. 

There  is  no  company  for  me  here,  because  my  heart  is  else- 
where. And  I  retire  to  this  secluded  apartment,  off  on  a  silent 
and  almost  vacated  wharf,  to  employ  my  time  in  lonely  musing, 
and  in  miscellaneous  scribbling,  of  which  tliis  is  a  specimen. 

"  It  is  now  half  past  10  o'clock  a.  m.  ;  my  wife  is  doubtless  at 
Br.  King's  agreeably  to  arrangement  for  our  meeting;  and, 
unless  he  is  able  to  inform  her  of  tlie  failure  of  the  Portland  to 
perform  her  trip,  she  is  looking  for  me  with  painful  anxiety,  and 
wondering  that  I  do  not  report  myself.  Oh,  thou  dearest  of 
earthly  beings,  to  thee  I  would  come  if  I  could,  this  very  min- 
ute. What  a  vast  portion  of  my  large  store  of  earthly  happiness 
is  in  my  family. 

"But  I  have  it  not  in  my  heart  to  murmur.  Surely  God  is 
good  to  us ;  and  this  disappointment  is  for  some  good,  to  me 
as  yet  unseen.  The  feeling  of  disappointment  I  cannot  sup- 
press ;  but  the  assurance  that  the  providence  of  God  is  right  is 
an  anodyne  to  my  pained  heart,  a  light  in  the  midst  of  my 
darkness.  I  will  endeavor  to  put  on  a  cheerful  air,  hoping  to  be 
landed  at  Boston  to-morrow  morning  at  5  or  6  o'clock ;  thence 
to  take  the  mail  stage,  and  reach  my  longed  for  home  at 
8  A.  M. 

"Boston  Bay,  July  5th,  Steamer  Bangor. 

"  It  is  now  6  o'clock  A.  M.,  and  we  are  just  past  ISTahant.  The 
boat  did  not  leave  Portland  last  evening  until  an  hour  past  its 
time,  and  the  wind  has  been  ahead.  But  we  have  had  a  pleas- 
ant night.  I  have  slept  considerably.  It  is  a  beautiful  morning. 
Speed  on,  ye  laboring  wheels,  that  I  may  reach  the  presence  of 
the  loved  ones  of  my  heart. 

"  At  7  o'clock  the  boat  arrived  at  the  wharf,  and  I  met  there 
one  of  my  Theological  Students,  John  Allen,  with  my  team  in 
charge  for  my  conveyance  home,  where,  in  the  brief  space  oi  an 
hour,  I  met  my  loved  ones  in  health  and  happiness." 

Note.  The  wife's  Diary  shows  that,  though  not  anxious 
in  regard  to  ni}^  safet}^,  having  learned  that  the  Portland 
Steamer  was  off  its  route  at  the  time,  she  was  obliged  to 
seek  various  devices  for  wearing  away  the  time  in  her  lone- 


A.    D.    1837.  263 

someness  and  disappointment.  But  slie  had  a  privilege 
■which  I  had  not,  —  that  of  being  with  the  family,  and 
assisting  the  children  in  their  enjoyment  of  the  day. 

THE   SABBATH   SCHOOL   ASSOCIATION. 

Extract  from  my  Diary  :  — 

''  July  2Qth. — In  the  forenoon  I  met  with  a  Sabbath  School 
Convention,  for  the  organization  of  a  Sabbath  School  Associa- 
tion. The  Convention  was  holden  in  the  Hanover  Street  Chnrch 
in  Boston.  I  was  appointed  Chairman  of  a  Committee  for 
drafting  a  Constitution.  We  had  but  barely  time  to  agree  on  a 
report,  when  I  was  unexpectedly  called  away  to  attend  the  fu- 
neral of  Mr.  Joel  Tweed,  in  S.  Reading. 

*' August  8th.  — Having  been  elected  as  one  of  the  Directors  of 
the  Sabbath  School  Association,  organized  on  the  26th  ult.,  I  this 
day  met  with  the  Board  of  Managers  in  Boston,  and  was  elected 
on  the  Committee  for  the  examination  and  recommendation  of 
books,  and  of  manuscripts  designed  for  publication,  for  the  use 
of  Sunday  Schools." 


RESIGNATION  OF  MY  PASTORSHIP  IN  MALDEN. 

On  the  Fifth  Sunday  in  July^  at  the  close  of  the  after- 
noon services,  I  read  to  my  congregation  a  letter  which  I 
had  previously  sent  to  the  Parish  Committee,  announcing 
and  explaining  my  Resignation  of  the  Pastoral  office  over 
that  Society.  The  letter  itself  so  fully  explains  the  reasons 
of  this  important  step,  that  but  few  w^ords  need  be  added 4n 
that  direction.     Here  is  the  letter  :  — 

'*  To   THE   Chairman   of   the  Prudential  Committee  of 
THE  First  Parish  in  Malden: 
"Dear  Sir  and  Brother,  —  The  object  of  this  communica- 
tion is  to  inform  you,  and  through  you  the  religious  Church  and 
Society  with  which  we  stand  connected,  that  I  resign  my  Pas- 


264  EEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

toral  oflSce  over  the  said  Church  and  Society,  such  resignation  to 
take  effect  after  the  expiration  of  three  montlis  from  the  date 
hereof.  While,  in  taking  this  step,  I  act  from  a  sense  of  duty, 
I  5'et  confess  emotions  of  pain  in  the  thought  of  leaving  a  soci- 
ety with  whom  I  have  been  associated  in  their  conflicts  and 
trials,  unto  such  pleasing  success  and  prosperity ;  a  society  with 
whose  interests  my  heart  has  so  long  been  bound  up ;  and  of 
tearing  myself  and  family  from  so  many  long  cherished  and 
vakied  friends,  whose  friendship  being  not  a  mere  name,  or 
expedient  for  a  temporary  purpose,  but  having  its  foundation  in 
Christian  fellowship  and  love,  wears  stronger  and  brighter  by 
age.  But  I  act  upon  mature  deliberation.  In  pursuing  the 
course  that  I  have  marked  out  for  a  limited  time  to  come,  the 
Lord  willing,  to  pursue,  I  shall  have  the  privilege  of  preaching 
the  gospel  wherever  I  may  find  an  opening  for  my  labors  on  the 
Sabbath ;  and  shall,  in  addition  to  this  service,  which  I  could  not 
consent  to  relinquish  for  any  other,  labor  on  the  week  days  in 
the  cause  of  Temperance,  of  Freedom,  and  any  moral  enter- 
prise to  the  advancement  of  which  I  may  be  called.  And  I  can, 
with  more  regularity  and  convenience,  devote  also  the  Sunday 
evenings  to  the  work  of  my  moral  reform  mission,  particularly 
that  involved  in  my  agency  of  the  Middlesex  County  Temper- 
ance Society.  By  this  mission  I  hope  to  be  able  to  do  some  addi- 
tional good  in  the  community,  co-operating  with  and  aiding  my 
Sabbath  gospel  labors,  in  promoting  the  temporal,  and  especially 
the  moral  and  spiritual  interests  of  my  fellow  creatures. 

*'  But  though  I  shall  preach  as  heretofore  on  the  Sabbath,  my 
other  services  just  mentioned  will  be  incompatible  with  the  full 
and  convenient  discharge  of  all  the  duties  of  a  settled  Pastor. 

"I  would  further  explain,  however,  that  as  my  Temperance 
Agency  is  a  temporary  engagement,  I  should  not  have  viewed 
it  agreeable  with  duty  to  withdraw  from  this  Society  for  the 
renewal  of  that  service,  were  it  not,  after  much  consideration, 
my  decided  opinion  that,  circumstanced  as  this  society  is,  you 
may  avail  yourselves  of  an  opportunity  to  obtain  a  successor  no 
less  worthy  of  your  confidence  and  esteem,  and  upon  such 
terms  for  a  time,  as  shall  afford  you  the  means  of  certain  neces- 
sary provisions  for  your  future  convenience  and  prosperity. 

"With  these  views  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  above 
expressed ;  and  accordingly  my  relation  as  Pastor  of  the  First 


A.    D.    1R37.  265 

Religious  Society  in  Maiden  will  cease  on  the  20th  clay  of  Octo- 
ber next ;  which  will  complete  nine  and  a  half  years  since  my 
removal  to  this  place.  I  shall  never  cease  to  pray  for  the  pros- 
perity and  happiness  of  this  beloved  Church  and  Society,  and  to 
hold  in  fond  remembrance  the  many  true  and  faithful  friends, 
whose  social  and  Christian  intercourse  I  have  so  richly  enjoyed. 
"Yours  in  the  Everlasting  Bonds  of  the  Gospel, 

"  SYLVANQS   COBB. 

"  Benj.  G.  Hill,  Chairman,  &c. 

"  Malden,  July  20th,  1837." 

The  foregoing  letter  sets  forth  so  distinctly  the  strong 
points  in  the  argument  for  mj'  resignation  of  the  Pastor- 
ate, that  I  need  add  but  a  few  words  in  further  explanation. 
Suffice  it  to  sa3^,  that  my  salary  from  the  Parish  was  con- 
siderably insufficient  for  the  support  of  my  famil}',  with 
economical  living.  The  house  full  of  boarding  and 
instructed  theological  students  from  year  to  year,  and  the 
much  lecturing  far  and  near,  and  the  brief  services  in  the 
Legislature,  all  must  needs  have  gone  into  the  account  to 
keep  us  even  with  those  who  served  us.  I  had  eight  }  oung 
children,  six  of  them  sons,  for  whose  continued  support 
and  education,  I  was  responsible  ;  and  whom  I  was  bound 
to  aid,  at  the  appropriate  age,  in  the  procurement  of  busi- 
ness for  a  livelihood.  And  I  did  not  deem  it  expedient 
that  I  should  continue  under  the  pressure  of  the  responsi- 
bilities of  a  settled  Pastor,  when,  partly  from  necessity  for 
the  maintenance  of  my  family,  and  partly  with  a  view  to 
more  extensive  usefulness,  I  must  perform  so  great  an 
amount  of  outside  labor. 

Having  served  the  Middlesex  Temperance  Society,  as 

well  as  I  could  in  connection  with  my  Pastoral  care,  and  as 

much  as  I  engaged,  I  was  now  re-elected  ;  and  there  was  a 

general  desire  that  I  should  place  myself  in  a  position  in 

23 


266  REV.    SYLVAKUS     COBB,    D.D, 

which  I  could  tlcvotc  to  the  work  of  this  Agency  the  week 
days  more  excUisivcly,  and  Sunda}^  evenings  more  gen- 
erally. The  second  year  of  this  Agency  commenced  with 
August. 

My  Diary,  against  the  date  of  August  21st,  reads 
thus : — 

"During  the  last  three  Aveeks  my  services  in  the  cause  of 
Temperance  have  been  mostly  devoted  to  collecting  facts,  visit- 
ing different  j^laces  for  that  purj)ose,  and  for  making  arrange- 
ments for  practical  operations,  and  writing  addresses.  The 
evenings  have  now  become  so  long,  that  I  shall  soon  be  busily 
engaged  in  lecturing." 


THE   ROCKINGHAM  ASSOCIATION. 

August  30th  and  31st,  this  Association  held  a  session  in 
Haverhill,  N.  H.  On  this  occasion  Br.  Joseph  O.  Skinner, 
one  of  my  theological  students,  received  Ordination.  Br. 
S.  Cobb  preached  the  Ordination  Sermon,  from  1  John  i.  4. 


VALEDICTORY  AT  MALDEN. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  Third  Sunday  in  October,  I 
delivered  my  Valedictory  Discourse  to  the  First  Religious 
Church  and  Society  in  Maiden,  it  being  the  last  Sunda}^  of 
the  first  half  of  my  ninth  year  in  the  Pastoral  relation 
with  them ;  and  the  time  assigned  by  m}^  letter  of  Resigna- 
tion to  the  Committee,  for  the  close  of  that  relation.  My 
feelings  were  strongly  wrought  upon  by  the  occasion  ;  and 
there  were  manifested  deep  emotions  generally  in  the  large 
congregation.  But  there  was,  with  me,  a  comfortable  quiet 
in  the  reflection  that  I  was  not  about  to  remove  far  away 
from  this  people,  and  from  the  familiar  and  loved  scenery 


J.    D.    1837.  267 

of  this  pleasant  and  interesting  locality.  I  intended  to 
make  Maiden  my  place  of  residence  3^et  for  a  while,  and 
the  vicinity  my  permanent  home. 

ADVANTAGES  OF  THE  SITUATION. 

My  withdrawal  from  the  Pastoral  charge  did  not  involve 
a  relinqnishment  of  the  Christian  Ministr}^,  or  a  diminution 
of  interest  in  its  work  as  a  religious  educational  instru- 
mentality. Nor  did  I  resign  my  special  charge  of  the 
Maiden  Parish  Avith  the  view  to  seek  another  Pastoral  set- 
tlement. I  intended  to  preach  on  all  the  Sabbaths  for 
which  my  services  might  be  called,  expecting  that  this  con- 
dition would  furnish  me  with  employment  every  Sabbath. 
And  it  was  so.  There  were  always  openings  enough  for 
my  Sunday  services  as  a  Christian  Evangelist.  But  then 
and  thenceforth  these  services  did  not  involve,  with  me,  an 
obligation  to  any  particular  societ}^,  which  would  hamper 
me  with  regard  to  the  employment  of  the  week  in  those 
literary  labors,  and  works  of  moral  reform,  to  which  my 
radical  tastes  and  conceptions  of  duty  much  inclined  me. 
These  were  prominent  advantages  of  the  situation. 

There  is  another  advantage  which  this  situation  afforded 
me,  having  relation  to  the  practical  explicitness  and  faith- 
ful directness  of  my  Sabbath  discourses,  in  regard  to  the 
moral  aspects  of  State  and  National  administrations.  The 
Christian  teacher  should  always  be  faithful  to  his  convic- 
tions of  right  and  dut}^  in  this  regard.  But  wlien  the  set- 
tled Pastor  knows  that  there  are  strong  and  influential 
members  of  his  Parish,  who  are  so  enslaved  to  a  political 
l^artisanship,  which  embraces,  and  sanctions,  and  nourishes 
a  monstrous  moral  wrong,  that  if  he  should  expose  the 
enormity  of  the  evil  and  rebuke  its  sinfulness,  from  the 


268  nEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

pulpit,  they  will  gnash  upon  him  with  their  teeth,  and 
strive  to  eject  him  from  his  place,  he  is  sorely  tempted  to 
deliberate  the  question,  whether  it  may  not  be  that  "the 
better  part  of  valor  is  discretion."  But  if  he  is  above  this 
skulking  policy,  and  regards  persecution  for  right-doing 
the  lesser,  and  the  punishment  of  wrong-doing  the  greater 
evil,  nevertheless  the  trial  is  a  painful  one. 

But  my  new  situation  afforded  me  much  freedom  from 
the  embarrassment  above  described.  However  much  I 
may  have  been  guided  by  conscience,  and  exercised  free- 
dom of  utterance  on  moral  questions  of  national  interest, 
in  m}^  Pastoral  relation,  1  subsequently  enjoyed  greater 
conscious  freedom.  While  I  was  impressed  with  a  sense 
of  my  responsibility  as  an  ambassador  of  Christ,  to  speak 
at  all  times  and  places  in  a  spirit  and  manner  consistent 
with  the  sacred  office,  regarding  alwaj^s  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  good  of  mankind,  my  position  did  not  trouble  me 
with  the  question  as  to  the  effect  of  my  words  upon  my 
personal  interest.  At  the  close  of  a  Sabbath's  services, 
when  I  have  been  moved  in  spirit  to  treat  pointedly  on  a 
ruinous  national  sin,  or  a  vicious  social  custom,  I  have 
sometimes  said  to  the  congregation,  that  I  had  dealt  faith- 
fully with  some  topics  in  relation  to  wdiich  the  community 
was  divided ;  but  they  would  have  no  occasion  to  call  a 
Parish  meeting  to  act  upon  the  question  of  my  dismissal, 
for  m}^  engagement  with  them  was  up  at  sun-down  ;  and  we 
could  do  no  better  than  take  those  subjects  home  with 
us  respectively,  and  deliberate  upon  them  in  Christian 
soberness. 


A.    D.    1S38.  269 

A.  D.  1838. 

A    SPECI3IEN   OF   THE    AGENCY. 

I  had  now  gone  thoroughly  into  the  work  of  my  Lectur- 
ing Agency  for  the  Middlesex  Temperance  Society.  As  a 
specimen  of  the  diligence  devoted  to  it,  I  will  transcribe 
here  from  my  Diary  the  journal  of  the  first  nine  dnjs  of 
this  new  year  :  — 

"JANUARY. 

**  1st.  — Hail,  thou  new  born  year !  Benignant  be  thy  reign. 
Under  it  may  our  improvements  be  great,  and  our  blessings 
many. 

"  2d.  —  I  delivered  a  temperance  lecture  in  Stoneham. 

*'  4:tJi.  —  Temperance  lecture  in  Woburn. 

'*  5tJi.  —  Lectured  in  Wihningtou. 

"  1st  Sunday.  — Preached  in  South  Danvers,  for  Br.  Austin; 
and  returned  to  Maiden  ;  where  I  lectured  on  temperance  in  the 
evening,  in  the  Baptist  Church,  to  a  large  and  attentive  audi- 
ence. 

"  ^th.  — Temperance  lecture  in  West  Reading. 

"  ^th.  —  Lectured  in  the  Baptist  Church  in  Newton  Centre." 

THE    PROVIDENCE   SOCIETY. 

January  10th.  — By  invitation  of  a  Committee  of  the 
Providence  County  Temperance "  Convention,  I  lectured 
before  their  meeting  this  evening,  preparatory  to  the  organ- 
ization of  a  County  Societ}''.  This  organization  was 
effected  at  the  time. 

On  the  next  da}^  I  attended  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the 
Rhode  Island  State  Temperance  Society  ;  and,  by  invita- 
tion, took  part  in  their  debates.  In  the  evening,  in  com- 
pliance v/ith  an  invitation  from  the  Coramittce  of  the 
23* 


270  REV.     SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

Pawtucket  Society,  I  lectured  in  the  Orthodox  Church  in 
Pawtucket. 

January^  Second  Sunday.  —  I  preached  in  Providence, 
for  Br.  Balch,  to  large  and  attentive  congregations  ;  and  in 
the  evening  lectured  in  the  Universalist  Chapel,  to  a 
crowded  audience,  for  the  new  Providence  County  Tem- 
perance Societ}'. 

Such  loan  of  a  helping  hand  to  the  good  cause  in  a 
neighboring  State,  as  also  in  other  Counties  in  our  own 
State,  was  regarded  by  my  employers  in  Middlesex  County 
as  legitimate  and  commendable. 


PAROCHIAL     COMMOTION    IN     SOUTH    WEY- 
MOUTH. 

"the  morning  light  is  breaking." 

On  the  First  Sunday  in  February,  I  preached  in  the 
Old  Parish  Church  in  South  Weymouth ;  and  under  cir- 
cumstances of  singular  distinctiveness,  and  peculiar  inter- 
est. 

The  Parish  was  nominally  Orthodox  ;  and  a  majority  of 
the  church,  with  the  Pastor,  had  been  of  that  tj-pe  of  Or- 
thodoxy distinguished  as  Hopkinsianism.  But  the  scale, 
in  the  church,  had  turned  in  favor  of  a  more  mixed  type 
of  theology ;  and  the  Hopkinsian  Pastor  resigned.  Then 
the  Parish  elected  a  Committee  of  three  to  supply  the 
pulpit  from  the  first  of  February  to  the  middle  of  April, 
the  time  of  the  annual  Parish  meeting.  Of  that  Commit- 
tee Mr.  Charles  Pratt  was  made  Chairman ;  and  he  was  a 
Universalist  in  sentiment ;  and  the  only  known  Universal- 
ist in  the  Parish.  Indeed,  even  he  was  known  to  be  such 
to  but  few.     It  was  not  as  such  that  he  was  placed  at  the 


A.    D.    1S38.  271 

head  of  the  Committee ;  but  it  was  for  the  estimation  in 
which  he  was  held ;  and  his  energy  of  character  insuring 
attention  to  any  matter  committed  to  him. 

The  Committee  agreed  that,  for  the  first  three  Sundays, 
each  of  their  number  should,  in  rotation,  select  the  preacher 
of  his  own  individual  choice,  beginning  with  the  Chairman, 
Mr.  Pratt.  He  came  forthwith  in  person,  and  engaged  me 
to  preach  the  first  Sunda}^ 

Who  would  be  the  choice  of  the  second  member  of  the 
Committee,  no  one  could  guess.  But  at  the  close  of  the 
first  Sunday's  services,  he  came  to  me  before  leaving  the 
Vestibule  of  the  Church,  and  engaged  me  to  preach  for 
him  on  the  next  Sunday.  This  I  did,  of  course.  And 
the  number  and  interest  of  the  congregation  increased. 
Numbers  received  the  word  with  readiness  of  mind,  and 
manifested  a  feeling  which  reminded  me  of  the  record  of 
the  effect  of  the  gospel  preached  by  Philip  in  Samaria, 
"  And  there  was  great  joy  in  that  city." 

Well,  what  next  in  this  chapter  of  wonders  ?  The  next 
was  the  act  of  the  third  Committee  man,  coming  to  me, 
contrary  to  all  expectation,  at  the  close  of  the  second  Sun- 
daj^'s  services,  and  engaging  me  as  Ms  minister  also,  to  fill 
the  pulpit  of  the  old  Parish  Church  on  the  tliird  Sunday  of 
this  new  dispensation.  And  glorious  meetings  we  had  on 
that  third  Sunday.  Most  of  the  members  of  the  Parish 
attended ;  others  came  in  ;  and  the  interest  in  the  gospel 
as  expounded  by  the  Universalist  ministry  increased. 

And  yet,  what  next  ?  Why,  this  it  was  ;  the  Committee 
in  its  oflScial  capacity,  as  a  whole,  engaged  me  to  suppl}'' 
their  pulpit  during  the  balance  of  their  term  of  office,  to 
the  annual  Parish  meeting  the  middle  of  April.  Then,  of 
course,  as  we  expected,  the  two  classes  of  Orthodox  pro- 
fessors united  in  opposition  to  Universalism,  and  took  con- 


272  KEV.    SYLVAXUS     COLB^    J).D. 

trol  of  tlie  pulpit.  But  a  sullicieiit  number  had  received 
the  light  of  the  gospel  in  its  fulness,  to  organize  a  separate 
meeting  in  a  convenient  hall. 

INSTALLATION   OF   REV.   J.   G.   ADAMS. 

Rev.  John  G.  Adams  was  the  man  of  my  choice  to  be- 
come my  successor  in  the  Pastorate  of  the  First  Church 
and  Society  in  Maiden.  And  he  was  the  people's  choice. 
He  was  duly  Installed  into  this  office  February  28th.  It 
devolved  upon  the  Ex-Pastor  to  preach  the  Installation 
Sermon.  Rev.  T.  F.  King  offered  the  Installing  Prayer ; 
Rev.  H.  Ballon,  2d,  delivered  the  Charge ;  Rev.  O.  A. 
Skinner,  the  Right  Hand  of  Fellowship  ;  and  Rev.  Thos. 
Whittemore,  the  Address  to  the  Society. 

INVITATION   TO  WALTHAM. 

I  preached  in  Waltham  on  the  third  /Sunday  in  March. 
There  was  a  3' oung  and  small  Universalist  Society  there, 
worshipping  in  Bank  Hall.  A  3'oung  brother  by  the  name 
of  Wm.  C.  Hanscom,  had  been  preaching  for  them  ;  but  he 
was  now,  by  reason  of  disease,  unable  to  preach.  There- 
fore the  Committee  of  the  Society  invited  me  to  remove  to 
that  place,  and  supply  their  desk  the  year  ensuing.  I 
assented  to  their  proposition  ;  not  to  assume  the  Pastoral 
relation,  which  it  was  understood  that  my  other  engage- 
ments would  render  inexpedient, — but  to  make  that 
pleasant  Village  m}^  family  home,  and  supply  the  3'oung 
Society's  preaching,  b}^  the  Sabbath.  In  coming  to  this 
conclusion  I  also  took  into  consideration  the  location  of 
Waltham  in  the  County  of  Middlesex,  so  central  as  the 
base  of  operations  in  my  Temperance  Agency.     With  a 


A.    D.    1838.  273 

smart  horse  of  my  own,  I  could,  in  pleasant  weather, 
return  to  my  home  in  the  evening,  after  the  lecture,  from  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  towns  in  the  County. 

REMOVAL   TO   WALTHAM. 

During  the  last  week  in  April  I  removed,  family  and 
furniture,  from  Maiden  to  Waltham,  which  is  ten  miles 
west  from  Boston.  The  Village  is  one  of  the  handsomest 
in  this  region,  and  the  farms,  back,  are  Avell  husbanded 
and  productive.  It  had  at  this  time  four  churches,  the 
Trinitarian  Congregational,  Unitarian,  Baptist,  and  Meth- 
odist ;  and  several  Cotton  Factories,  on  Charles  River. 
We  took  a  large  house  on  Main  Street,  near  the  Bank, 
which  furnished  ample  room  for  our  numerous  family. 

THEOLOGICAL   STUDENTS. 

At  this  point,  having,  with  m}^  removal  from  Maiden, 
and  the  retirement  from  the  position  of  settled  Pastor, 
closed  my  charge  of  theological  students,  it  may  be  appro- 
priate to  make  record  of  my  doings  in  this  department  of 
labor. 

I  had  accommodated  three  young  men  with  board  in  my 
family,  and  tuition,  as  students  for  the  Christian  ministry, 
in  Waterville,  Me.  These  were  Zenas  Thompson,  Fred- 
eric A.  Hodsdon  and  Alanson  St.  Clair. 

In  Maiden,  the  necessity  was  laid  upon  me  to  run  quite 
a  Theological  School.  We  had  no  public  institution  for 
the  education  of  young  men  for  the  ministry  at  that  time  ; 
nor  was  it  convenient  for  our  Boston  clergymen  to  take  stu- 
dents into  their  families.  The  Parsonage  which  we  occu- 
pied was  a  large  house  ;  and  I  committed  mj^self  to  the 


274  J.'EV.    SYLVANUS     COBn,    D.D. 

responsibility  at  once  on  commencing  my  residence  in  Mai- 
den, by  permitting  a  stndent,  N.  C.  Fletcher,  to  follow  me 
directly  from  Maine,  on  m}'  remoA'al  thence.  So  it  came  to 
pass  that,  when  any  of  our  ncigliljoiing  clergymen  were 
called  npon  by  a  young  man  for  accommodation  in  this 
line,  forthwith  he  Avas  directed  to  the  Maiden  Parsonage. 
The  number  who  served  terms  of  preparalor}-  study  for  the 
ministry  in  that  Parsonage  during  mj^  pastorate  there  was 
seventeen;  —  viz.,  N.  C.  Fletcher,  Rufus  K.  Pope,  Jolin 
Harriman,  J.  W.  Talbot,  Charles  Gallagher,  Theodore  K. 
Taylor,  George  Hastings,  Charles  S.  Hussey,  Elbridge 
Trull,  Asa  P.  Cleverl}^,  Abraham  Norwood,  Joseph  O. 
Skinner,  John  Allen,  Gilman  Noyes,  Horace  W.  Morse, 
Erasmus  Manford,  Joseph  Grammar. 

Some  of  those  men,  as  should  have  been  expected  among 
so  manj^,  after  a  brief  experience  in  the  work  of  the  minis- 
tr}'',  went  into  other  honorable  branches  of  business  ;  others 
became  able  and  popular,  and  most  of  them  faithful  and 
useful  ministers  of  the  gospel. 

THE   WOPvK   IN  WALTHAM. 

As  I  have  said,  the  meetings  of  the  Universalist 'Society 
were  held  in  the  Bank  Hall.  Here  I  commenced  my  work 
in  this  new  locality.  We  forthwith  organized  a  Sunday 
School ;  and  the  influx  of  scholars,  and  enlistment  of  teach- 
ers, at  the  very  outset,  afforded  us  cheering  encouragement. 

FUNERAL  OF  BR.  HANSCOM. 

I  have  spoken  of  Br.  Hanscom,  as  having  commenced  the 
work  of  gathering  a  society  here,  and  being  disabled  b}^ 
disease.  I  find  the  following  memorandum  in  my  Diary, 
in  relation  to  his  death,  and  funeral  obsequies  :  — 


A.    D.    18^.8.  275 

**  3Iay  2btli. — Returning  home  in  the  morning,  from  Bedford, 
I  found  that  our  Rev.  Brother  Wm.  C.  Hanscom  died  oji  the  pre- 
vious day  in  Cambridgeport ;  and  that  his  remains  were  removed 
to  my  house,  to  be  interred  to-day.  He  had  suffered  a  long  and 
severe  sickness  of  consumption,  through  the  whole  of  which  he 
enjoyed  a  strong  and  living  faith  in  the  gospel  of  universal  grace 
and  salvation.  When  he  felt  that  his  departure  was  near,  he 
made  out  a  full  programme  for'the  services  at  his  funeral,  which 
was  as  follows  :  — 

1.  The  Scripture  Lesson,  1  Cor.  xv.,  beginning  at  verse  35th, 
to  be  read  by  Br.  Lucius  R.  Paige. 

2.  The  First  Prayer,  by  Br.  J.  G.  Adams. 

3.  The  Sermon,  by  Br.  T.  Whittemore. 

4.  The  Concluding  Prayer,  by  Br.  T.  F.  King. 

5.  Address  at  the  grave,  by  Br.  S.  Cobb. 

He  also  selected  all  the  hymns  to  be  sung  on  the  occasion. 

He  died  at  23  years  of  age,  and  his  memory  is  affectionately 
and  respectfully  cherished  by  all  who  knew  him,  as  an  exem- 
plary Christian,  and  able  and  most  zealous  minister  of  the 
gospel." 

The  Bank  Hall  was  soon  found  to  be  of  insufficient 
capacity  for  the  accommodation  of  our  meetings  ;  and,  so 
soon  as  the  Fourth  Sunday  in  May,  we  commenced  holding 
our  Sabbath  services  in  the  Town  Hall,  a  commodious 
room,  pleasantly  situated  on  Church  Street.  Here  our 
congregations  grew  in  numbers  and  interest. 

Nathaniel  Prentice  Banks,  since  Governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts, Member  and  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives of  Congress,  and  Major  General  in  the  Army  of  the 
United  States,  a  native  of  Waltham,  was  then  a  member 
of  my  congregation.  He  was  then  a  youth,  just  budding 
into  manhood ;  was  a  Machinist,  in  the  emploj-ment  of  the 
Waltham  Manufacturing  Company  ;  whence  the  appellation 
given  him  after  his  indomitable  energies  were  developed  in 
public  life,  —  "  The  Iron  Man."  At  this  time  he  was  an 
active  and  successful  member  of  a  "  Young  Men's  Debat- 


276  EEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB.    D.D. 

ing  Club,"  and  a  leader  in  many  movements  for  the  eleva- 
tion and  education  of  his  townsmen. 


DISCUSSION   IN   THE   CONCORD   FREEMAN. 

In  June.,  I  published  in  the  Concord  Freeman  a  series  of 
articles  in  advocacy  of  the  merits  of  the  Prohibitive  Liquor 
Law,  and  of  the  measures  then  being  prosecuted  by  the 
friends  of  the  Temperance  cause,  in  reply  to  a  letter  by  the 
Editor  addressed  to  me,  touching  some  remarks  which  I 
had  made  in  a  Temperance  Convention. 


THE   CHURCH   ORGANIZED. 

July.  —  Early  in  this  month  we  organized  a  church  in 
connection  with  our  society.  Br.  Ephraim  Allen,  of  Wal- 
tham,  and  Br.  James  Francis,  of  Wayland,  who  had 
attached  himself  to  our  society,  were  elected  Deacons.  Mr. 
Francis  was  a  brother  of  Mrs.  L.  Maria  Childs,  of  literary 
celebrity. 

This  church  proved  to  be  a  happy  fraternity,  and  the 
early  membership  of  a  goodly  proportion  of  young  men 
and  women  was  an  interesting  circumstance.  We  num- 
bered thirty-three  members  at  the  outset. 

COLLECTION   OF   SALARY   AT   SO.   WEYMOUTH. 

In  relation  to  my  two  and  a  half  months  service  for  the 
Orthodox  Parish  in  South  Weymouth,  from  Feb.  1st  to  the 
middle  of  April  (see  pp.  270,  271),  the  Treasurer  of  the 
Parish  had  declined  paying  me  the  stipulated  compensa- 
tion, on  the  ground  that  my  ministry  was  not  of  the  type 
of  Orthodoxy  which  the  Parish  had  patronized.     I  now. 


A.    D.    1838.  277 

August  1st,  left  the  bill  of  service  with  Esq.  Kingsbury  for 
collection ;  and  in  a  few  daj's  he  forwarded  to  me  the 
money.  And  I  deem  the  fact  worthy  of  note,  that,  in  all 
my  business  transactions,  which  in  more  than  twenty  years 
publication  of  a  weekl}^  journal  were  multiplied  and  exten- 
sive, this  is  the  only  case  of  my  having  committed  a  demand 
to  a  lawj-er  for  collection. 

RECOGNITION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

September  loth.  —  This  evening  we  had  a  public  Recog- 
nition, in  due  form,  of  the  church  the  organization  of  which 
has  just  been  noticed  above.  Rev.  Messrs.  C.  C.  Burr  (of 
Maine),  O.  A.  Skinner,  L.  R.  Paige,  and  S.  Streeter,  per- 
formed parts  in  the  services  of  the  occasion.  It  was  "  a 
season  of  refreshing  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord." 

THE   TEMPERANCE   WORK. 

My  private  Journal  exhibits  me  all  along,  while  so  atten- 
tive to  the  interests  of  Zion,  as  industriously  at  work  in 
the  business  of  my  Agency  of  the  Middlesex  Temperance 
Society.  During  this  autumn  I  was  much  engaged  in  pub- 
lic discussions,  in  controversy  with  selected  opponents,  of 
the  law  prohibiting  the  retail,  except  for  medicines  and  use 
in  the  arts,  of  spirituous  liquors  in  less  quantities  than 
fifteen  gallons. 

On  the  evening  of  the  First  Sunday  in  October,  I  loaned 
my  service  to  the  Suffolk  Comity  Temperance  Society,  and 
lectured  for  that  organization  in  Father  Ballou's  Church. 
My  subject  was  "  The  Connection  of  the  Temperance  Cause 
with  our  Civil,  Social  and  Religious  Institutions."  The 
audience  was  large. 
24 


278  IlEV.    SYLVAN  us     COIJB,    D.D. 


ERROR   SELF-DESTRUCTIVE. 

On  the  evening  of  October  17th,  when  I  had  closed  a. 
lecture  in  the  Congregational  Meeting  House  in  Bedford,  I 
stepped  into  the  Bar  Room  of  the  Tavern  to  order  my 
team,  and  found  it  filled  with  rum  drinkers.  A  Mr.  Web- 
ber, who  withdrew  from  the  Unitarian  Society  at  the  time 
of  my  previous  lecture  there,  because  it  was  in  their  Meet- 
ing House,  seeing  me,  but  pretending  not  to  know  me, 
thought  to  rub  me  by  saying  that  this  temperance  business 
made  it  well  for  him,  for  he  (being  a  Cooper),  had  increased 
calls  now  for  rum-barrels.  I  said  to  him  in  reply,  "  Sir,  I 
heard  j^ou  say  recently  on  the  Muster-field  in  Watertown, 
that  3^011  withdrew  from  3'our  religious  society,  because 
they  opened  their  house  to  a  temperance  lecture ;  and  be- 
cause these  temperance  lectures  touched  your  interest.  The 
temperance  cause,  3'OU  said,  was  a  damage  to  you  of  from 
fifty  to  a  hundred  dollars  a  year,  by  its  effect  on  j^our  busi- 
ness of  making  rum-barrels.  But  now  3^ou  sa}^  it  makes 
your  business  better  by  Increasing  the  demand  for  j^our 
barrels.  How  will  you  explain  yourself? "  He  seemed 
confused  ;  and,  after  muttering  a  few  words,  was  silent.  A 
ring  was  formed  around  me  by  the  rum-drinkers  and  their 
allies,  and  a  very  serious  conversation  went  on  between  me 
and  the  Landlord,  —  others  throwing  in  a  word  now  and 
then.  All  were  attentive  ;  and  I  believed  that  the  conver- 
sation would  be  of  some  good  service. 

This  was  the  Bar  Room  in  which  the  unsuccessful  mob 
was  plotted  on  the  occasion  of  my  former  lecture  in  the 
same  Church.     See  p.  251. 

On  the  evening  of  the  First  Sunday  in  November^  I  again 
lent  my  service  to  the  Suffolk  County  Temperance  Society, 


A.    D.    1838,  279 

lecturing  for  tliem  in  Marlboro'  Chapel.     Had  a  large  con- 
gregation. 

DEDICATION   IN   STERLING. 

November  2\st.  —  A  new  Union  Meeting  House  was 
dedicated  in  Sterling.  Father  Ballon  preached  the  Dedica- 
tory Sermon ;  and  Br.  Cobb  offered  the  Prayer  of  Dedica- 
tion, and  preached  a  sermon  in  the  evening. 

SUMMARY   OF  THE  YEAR. 

The  following  conclusion  of  the  record  of  the  year  I 
transfer  from  my  Diary  :  — 

"  December  olst.  — This  day  terminates  the  year  1838.  It  has 
been  to  ine  a  year  of  much  labor,  and  much  prosperity  and  hap- 
piness. My  numerous  family,  including  my  wife  with  myself, 
eight  children,  and  niece,  have  enjoyed  almost  uninterrupted 
health.  We  removed  from  Maiden  to  this  place,  Waltham,  on 
the  27lh  of  April  last.  Here  we  have  formed  an  interesting  cir- 
cle of  new  acquaintances  and  friends,  and  the  religious  society 
with  which  I  am  connected  as  a  present  ministerial  supply  is 
highly  prosperous.  We  have  received  acquisitions  of  numbers 
of  valuable  members,  who  have  become  very  deeply  interested 
in  the  cause  of  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus ;  and  our  meetings  have 
considerably  increased.  In  addition  to  my  ministerial  labors,  I 
have  served  the  whole  year  in  the  Temperance  Agency,  except 
a  month^s  vacation  in  August.  I  have,  during  the  year,  preached 
124  sermons,  and  delivered  141  Temperance  Lectures,  and  1 
Lyceum  lecture;  attended  3  funerals,  and  solemnized  5  mar- 
riages. Besides,  I  have  spoken  much  in  Conventions,  and  in 
debating  meetings.  My  Temperance  Lectures,  being  mostly  on 
the  License  Law,  have  averaged  at  least  one  hour  and  a  quarter ; 
making  for  the  141,  17G|  hours.  My  sermons,  many  of  them 
having  been  in  new  places,  and  on  special  subjects,  have  aver- 
aged 40  minutes,  making,  for  the  124,  82  hours  and  40  minutes. 
Total,  259  hours  speaking,  in  the  sermons  and  lectures,  besides 


280  nEV.    SYLVAXUS     COBB,    D.D. 

the  other  connected  services  ;  —  making  the  amount  of  43  days 
constant  speaking,  at  six  hours  to  the  day.  Yet  I  have  not  been 
prevented  by  indisposition  from  fulfilling  all  my  numerous  and 
multifarious  engagements.  I  have  the  satisfaction  to  know  that 
my  humble  labors  for  the  cause  of  Temperance,  and  protective 
legislation,  and  also  those  for  Gospel  truth,  have  been  well 
received  ;  and  successful,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  to  the  promo- 
tion of  good.     *  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul.' " 


A.    D.    1839. 
I  continued  my  labors  as  in  the  past  year. 

THE   DEDICATION   IN  HOLLISTON. 

The  Universalist  Societ}"  in  Holliston,  Mass.,  having 
finished  their  new  Meeting  House,  it  was  Dedicated  in 
appropriate  form  on  January  Oxn.  Br.  S.  Cobb  preached 
the  sermon  ;  and  Br.  T.  J.  Greenwood  offered  the  Dedica- 
tory Prayer.  Br.  Joseph  O.  Skinner,  one  of  my  theologi- 
cal students,  was  the  Pastor  of  the  society. 

BEFORE   THE  LEGISLATIVE   COMMITTEE. 

In  the  last  half  of  January,  there  was  a  protracted  dis- 
cussion b}'  adjournment  from  day  to  da}^,  before  a  Special 
Joint  Committee  of  the  Legislature,  of  the  Prohibitive  Law 
for  suppressing  dram-shops.  A  Middlesex  County  Tem- 
perance convention,  had  appointed  me  as  one  of  their  Coun- 
sel to  support  the  law  before  that  Committee,  to  whom 
numerous  petitions  for  the  repeal  of  the  law  were  referred. 
Benj.  F.  liallett,  Esq.,  conducted  the  opposition  to  the  law, 
and  Peleg  Sprague,  Esq.,  its  defence.  It  devolved  upon  me 
to  assist  in  the  cross-questioning  of  the  witnesses  of  the 
opposition,  and  the  exposure  of  their  misrepresentations. 


A.    D.    1839.  281 

Hon.  Samuel  A.  Elliot,  Maj^or  of  Boston,  was  brought 
forward  b}^  Mr.  Hallett  as  a  witness,  and  testified  that,  in 
his  opinion,  the  prohibitive  law  could  not  be  enforced  in 
this  city.  He  was  in  favor  of  a  license  law.  I  put  to  him 
this  question,  with  its  preliminary  :  If  two  thousand  per- 
sons in  Boston  wish  to  retail  liquor,  and  3^ou  license  one 
thousand  onl}",  seeing  that,  by  your  license  S3'stem,  you 
pronounce  the  business  to  be  right  and  good  in  itself,  — 
will  it  not  be  more  difficult  to  suppress  the  participation  in 
it  of  the  other  thousand,  than  it  would  be  to  enforce  an  im- 
partial prohibitive  law,  suppressing  the  traffic  alike  with 
all  ?  He  did  not  find  it  convenient  to  understand  the  ques- 
tion. 

With  regard,  however,  to  the  fate  of  the  prohibitive  law 
in  its  then  present  form,  through  political  entanglements 
its  repeal  was  effected. 

THE    LARGE     ADDITION     TO    OUR     WALTHAM 
SOCIETY. 

The  old  Territorial  Parish  in  Waltham  had  been  many 
years  Unitarian.  Their  Meeting  House  was  situated  on  a 
handsome  green,  a  little  back  from  the  Village,  north.  A 
second  Unitarian  Society  had  been  in  operation  several 
years,  with  a  Meeting  House  centrally  located  on  the  Main 
Street.  This  February  (1839),  a  majorit}-  of  the  old  Par- 
ish united  with  the  new,  and  commenced  public  worship 
with  them  in  a  new  house  on  Church  Street.  Upon  this 
event  about  twenty  families  of  the  old  Parish,  residing  in 
the  north-east  part  of  the  town,  proposed  and  effected  a 
union  with  the  Universalist  Societ}',  and  assisted  them  in 
the  building  of  a  convenient  Church  in  the  north-east  part 
of  the  Village,  within  a  short  distance  of  the  site  of  the  old 
24* 


282  JiEj\  SYLrA^us   conn,  d.d. 

Church.  This  location  of  the  Church  was  made  a  condi- 
tion, by  the  Traffalo  people  (for  that  District  of  the  town 
^^•as  called  Traffalo),  of  their  coming  into  this  union  ;  and 
the  gift  of  the  site  by  Hon.  Theodoi-e  Lyman  was  an  addi- 
tional temptation  to  the  Universalists  to  consent  to  the 
arrangement.  And  it  operated  advantageousl}^  to  our  cause 
for  a  few  years.  The  Traffalo  families  added  much  to 
the  size,  support  and  interest  of  our  meetings.  But  sev- 
eral years  afterwards,  and  after  I  had  removed  from  the 
place,  the  growth  of  the  Village  sat  off  westward,  and  this 
Church  was  so  inconveniently  away  from  the  centre  of  pop- 
ulation, that  a  removal  of  the  building  for  a  better  locality 
resulted  in  its  loss  to  the  societj^,  and  their  suspension  of 
operation  for  a  few  years. 

MY   OWN  NEWSPAPER. 

This  spring  I  commenced  the  publication  of  the  religious 
and  literary  family  newspaper,  called  "  The  Christian 
Freeman  and  Family  Visiter."  For  me,  undei'  the  cir- 
cumstances, it  was  a  tremendous  undertaking.  I  wonder 
that  I  had  sufficient  courage  to  undertake  it.  But  the 
secret  of  the  enterprise  was  faith.  In  my  travels  over  the 
countrj^,  and  the  familiar  acquaintance  I  had  formed  Avitli 
the  families  of  different  denominations,  I  had  observed  the 
want  of  a  weekl}^  paper  in  the  patronage  of  the  Universalist 
denomination,  more  considerably  devoted,  than  any  then  in 
circulation,  to  interesting  miscellany  for  the  younger  mem- 
bers of  the  families,  and  more  decidedly  committed  to  the 
moral  reforms  of  the  day,  such  as  Anti-Slavery  and  Tem- 
perance. With  this  conviction,  and  the  knowledge  of  the 
ardent  wishes,  in  this  direction,  of  numbers  of  influential 
lay  brethren,  I  formed  my  purpose,  laid  my  plan,  purchased 


A.    D.    1839.  283 

the  requisite  printing  apparatus,  hired  the  chambers  of  Mr. 
Josiah  Hastings'  book  store,  installed  Mr.  George  Jefts  as 
the  Foreman  of  the  office ;  and,  on  the  19th  day  of  April, 
1839,  issued  No.  1,  Vol.  1,  of  The  Christian  Freeman 
AND  Family  Visiter. 

With  no  experience  at  all  in  this  line  ;  with*  no  business 
associate  or  partnership  ;  and  with  but  little  capital ;  to 
undertake  the  whole  concern  alone,  as  Proprietor  and 
Editor,  it  was  a  hazardous  adventure.  But  I  believed 
that  I  had  this  mission  assigned  to  me  of  God,  and  that 
he  would  sustain  and  prosper  me  in  it.  And  more  than 
my  highest  hopes  in  it  were  realized. 

The  elder  representatives  of  the  denominational  press. 
Rev.  T.  Whittemore,  of  the  Trumpet  and  Universalist  Mag- 
azine, Massachusetts  ;  Rev.  Wm.  A.  Drew,  of  the  Gos- 
pel Banner,  Maine  ;  and  P.  Price,  Esq.,  of  the  Union,  New 
York,  all  noble  brethren,  gave  my  bantling  the  cold  shoul- 
der. This  was  not  from  their  want  of  personal  regard  for 
me  ;  but  from  their  fearful  apprehension  of  harm  to  my- 
self, from  a  costh^  and  unsuccessful  effort ;  and  harm  to 
the  Universalist  denomination,  from  the  introduction  of 
the  exciting  topics  of  Slavery  and  Temperance.  But 
these  apprehensions  were  removed  in  due  time.  And  now, 
when  a  quarter  of  a  centur}^  has  passed  away,  our  denom- 
inational press  is  a  unit  in  the  bold  and  manly  discussion 
of  those  then  delicate  subjects. 

MISS   EDGARTON'S   SALUTATION. 

Miss  Sarah  C.  Edgarton,  the  popular  author  and 
poetess,  afterwards  Mrs.  S.  C.  Mayo,  on  receiving  my 
Prospectus,  sent  me  for  the  first  number  of  The  Christian 


284  IlEV.    SYLVAXUS     CODB^    i:>.D. 

Fkeeman  and  Family  Visiter,  the  follo\\-ing  moral  and  lit- 
erary gem  : 

THE  CHRISTIAN  FREEMAN   AND   FAMILY  VISITER. 

A  Freeman!     How  the  captive  heart 

Throbs  at  the  name  o^  free  ! 
How  eagerly  his  chained  feet  start 

For  home  and  Liberty  ! 
He  hears  the  sound  of  chainless  fountains  — 
The  horn  upon  his  native  mountains  ! 

He  breathes  the  free  untainted  air, 

Then  clanks  his  fetters  in  despair  ! 

''  I  must  be  free  !  I  will  be  free  ! 

Oh  give  me,  give  me  Liberty  ! " 

A  Freeman  !     Ask  the  toiling  slave, 

What  meaning  in  that  name  ! 
And  he  will  point  you  to  the  wave  — 

The  air  —  the  chainless  flame  — 
The  young  fawn  bounding  thro'  the  wildwood  — 
The  merry  feet  of  laughing  childhood  ! 

He'll  point  to  these  —  then  turn  away 

To  wipe  the  silent  tears  that  stray 

O'er  cheeks,  long  strangers  to  the  bliss 

Of  wife's  or  infant's  holy  kiss. 

A  Christian  Freeman  !    Son  of  God  ! 

Can  mortals  follow  Thee, 
And  tread  the  path  where  Thou  hast  trod, 

Yet  be  aught  else  than /rce? 
Alas  that  Priestcraft  —  hateful  demon  ! 
Should  weld  her  chains  on  Christian  Freeman! 

Alas  !   that  sons  of  God  should  be 

Doomed  to  the  curse  of  slavery  ! 

Awake,  ye  captives  !  join  the  band 

That  herald  Freedom  through  the  land  ! 

Hail  to  thee,  "  Christian  Freeman  /"  Hail  ! 
Forth  on  thy  mission  speed  ! 


A.    I).    1839.  285 


Dislodge  the  rivet  and  the  nail, 
'And  heal  the  stripes  that  bleed  ! 
Speed  thee,  ay  speed  thee  on  thy  mission, 
To  free  the  mind  from  base  oppression  ! 
Gird  on  thine  armor  for  a  fight. 
To  bring  the  soul  in  robes  of  light 
Out  from  the  dungeon  of  despair. 
To  breathe  the  sweets  of  God's  free  air  ! 

Nor  this  alone  —  'Tis  thine  to  steal, 
A  "  Visiter"  to  fireside  groups  — 
And,  silently,  to  make  them  feel 
The  worth  of  gospel  hopes  — 
To  soothe  the  weary  and  afflicted  — 
Restrain  the  youth  to  vice  addicted, 

And  gently  lead  him  back  to  truth ; 
For  beautiful  and  sweet  to  youth 
Should  virtue  bo  —  and  fair  the  road 
That  leadeth  to  the  feet  of  God  ! 


E. 


I  made  an  arrangement  with  J.  N.  Bang,  printer,  on 
Cornbill,  Boston,  to  act  as  my  Boston  agent ;  and,  in  the 
heading  of  the  paper,  I  denoted  it  as  ''  Published  in  Wal- 
tham  and  Boston." 

Soon  after  I  embarked  npon  this  laborious  undertaking, 
which  proved  to  be  the  distinctive  business  of  twenty  years 
of  the  prime  of  my  life,  I  discontinued  my  Temperance 
Agency ;  but  continued,  yet  two  j^ears,  while  I  remained  a 
resident  of  Waltham,  to  supply  the  preaching  for  the  Uni- 
versalist  Society  in  that  town  ;  but  I  did  this  so  much  by 
way  of  exchanges  and  substitutes,  as  to  be  able  to  return 
to  something  like  my  old  missionary  labors  over  the  coun- 
try, whicli  afforded  me  the  much  needed  opportunity  of 
pa3'ing  attention  to  the  circulation  of  the  Christian  Free- 
man. 

end  of  autobiography. 


THE    MEMOIR 


PREFACE 


I  HAVE  but  little  to  say  to  the  reader  under  this  head^.  My 
work  is  finished,  and  I  turn  to  this  page  at  the  beginning,  to 
entreat  that  the  result  of  my  labor  may  be  judged  in  the  spirit 
of  kindness  and  forbearance.  I  realized,  when  I  took  up  my  pen, 
that  I  had  a  difiicult  task  before  me  —  the  task  of  writing  of  the 
life  of  one  whom  I  so  deeply  loved,  without  allowing  that  love 
to  exert  an  undue  influence  in  my  estimate  of  the  subject  I  had 
in  hand.  I  have  held  steadily  in  view  the  one  aim  to  state  the 
facts  as  they  were,  and  to  draw  only  such  deductions  as  those 
facts  would  legitimately  warrant.  It  would  have  been  a  thing 
impossible  with  me  to  write  of  my  father  without  betraying  the 
emotions  of  a  son ;  but  I  believe  in  no  instance  have  those  emo- 
tions led  me  astray  from  the  path  which,  as  a  faithful  memoirist, 
I  was  bound  to  follow. 

Because  I  have  used  the  "  first  person  singular"  of  the  per- 
sonal pronoun  the  reader  will  not  deem  me  egotistical.  I  found 
that  style  of  presenting  myself  the  most  convenient.  A  sense  of 
delicacy,  over-nice,  might  have  led  me  to  follow  the  custom  of 
many  in  using  the  editorial  "  2^e,"  or  such  a  phrase  as  ''the 
writer,'^''  when  I  meant  myself;  and,  also,  of  speaking  of  "  the 
25  289 


290  REV.    SYLVAXUS     COni),    D.D. 

subject  of  oitr  sJcetch^''  when  I  meant,  MY  father.  But  I  have 
preferred  to  write  as  nearly  as  possible  as  I  would  have  spoken, 
had  I  been  telling  the  story  of  that  life,  by  word  of  mouth,  to  a 
circle  of  listening  friends.  So  I  have  used  the  pronoun  "I," 
and  written  of  "  my  father,"  moved  by  the  feeling  that  I  was, 
in  truth,  telling  the  story  to  my  friends. 

Touching  the  subject  matter  of  the  work,  I  have  no  exten- 
uation to  offer ;  and  the  only  fiivor  I  have  to  crave  is,  that  you 
will  read  this  Memoir  with  the  faith  that  I  have  earnestly  and 
prayeyfully  sought  to  present  the  picture  of  a  life  worthy  of 
being  studied  and  copied  5  and  that  I  have  been  cheered  in  my 
labor  by  the  firm  conviction  that  good  would  result  from  it. 
Trusting  that  I  have  not  labored  in  vain,  and  that  the  lessons  of 
life  contained  in  these  pages  may  be  a  source  of  blessing  to  my 
fellow  men,  I  give  the  book  to  the  public. 

SYLVANUS  COBB,  Jr. 

Norway,  Me.,  January  lUh,  1867. 


INTRODUCTION. 


Dear  Header  :  —  It  is  with  mingled  emotions  of  sadness 
and  pleasure  that  I  take  my  pen  for  the  work  before  me.  I 
would  that  it  could  have  fallen  to  another  hand  to  finish  the 
life-storj^  of  my  father ;  but  since  the  labor  has  devolved 
upon  me  I  enter  upon  it  most  willingly,  and  will  do  what  I 
can  towards  giving  to  the  world  a  faithful  record  of  the 
later  days  of  Sylvanus  Cobb.  O  !  if  he  could  but  have  fin- 
ished the  work  himself!  There  were  years  of  labor  — 
years  of  toilsome  strife  in  the  great  battle  of  Reform  — 
which  none  can  now  picture  as  he  could  have  done  it.  He 
had  just  reached,  in  his  stor^^,  that  epoch  of  his  life  where 
he  stepped  forth  into  a  new  field  of  labor,  and  armed  him- 
self for  a  crusade  to  which  he  was  to  give  the  best  energies 
of  body  and  mind,  when  his  strength  failed  him,  and  his 
pen  dropped  from  his  nerveless  grasp  never  to  be  resumed 
again  on  earth.  Vain  wish  !  He  had  written  his  last  line  ; 
the  old  familiar  desk,  where  he  had  toiled  so  long,  by  day 
and  by  night,  was  closed  upon  the  unfinished  work,  and  it 
was  told  to  me  that  I  must  finish  it.  But  I  do  not  sit  down 
to  the  task  unaided.  She  is  with  me  who  was  my  father's 
best  earthly  friend  through  life  ;  who  watched  all  his  in- 
goings and  out-comings  ;  who  bore  with  him  and  sustained 
him  ;  who  shared  all  his  labors  ;  and  who  held  up  his  hands 

291 


292  REV.     SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

and  his  heart  in  faith  and  love  to  the  end.  And  then  I 
have  copious  memoranda,  in  manuscript  and  in  print,  be- 
sides the  minutes  of  those  in  various  sections,  who  knew 
him  well.  I  have  felt,  so  far  as  my  father's  connection 
with  the  subject  now  in  hand  was  concerned,  that  one  of 
the  sources  of  sad  reflection  in  view  of  his  death  was,  that 
he  could  not  have  been  spared  to  finish  the  Autobiography  ; 
or,  that  he  had  not  commenced  it  at  an  earlier  da}',  so  that 
more  could  have  been  accomplished  by  his  pen.  But,  upon 
reflection,  I  am  willing  to  coincide  with  others  of  the  house- 
hold. He  left  his  work  just  in  the  right  place.  With  his 
own  pen  he  brought  it  down  to  the  event  of  the  publication 
of  the  Christian  Freeman,  and  from  that  date  nearly  the 
whole  record  of  his  after  life  is  in  print,  and  I  have  only  to 
cull  from  the  printed  pages  what  is  proper  and  necessary 
to  finish  the  story.  In  this  light  it  really  seems  as  though 
his  strength  was  spared  to  the  proper  limit  —  as  though 
the  Great  Father  upheld  his  hand  to  the  point  where 
another  could  step  in  and  take  hold  of  the  work  understand- 
ingl}'.  And  then  so  far  as  the  summing  up  of  his  character 
is  concerned,  and  the  presenting  of  those  more  delicate 
matters  which  have  to  do  with  the  idiosyncrasies  that  were 
the  source  of  his  distinsjuishinsj  virtues  and  his  human 
weaknesses,  it  is  certainly  more  fitting  that  another  than 
himself  should  tell  of  them.  And  so,  with  but  a  simple 
application  to  the  case  of  the  balm  of  our  glorious  faith,  I 
can  still  sincerely  say,  —  "  God  doeth  all  things  well." 

It  may  be  said  by  some  that  a  child  is  not  competent  to 
write  a  fair  and  impartial  memoir  of  a  parent.  I  do  not 
see  it  in  that  light.  I  believe  that  no  man  could  write  of 
my  father  more  impartially  than  I  am  prepared  and  deter- 
mined to  do.  I  knew  all  his  failings,  for  no  one  has  had 
more  occasion  to  mark  them  than  I  have  had :  and  I  can 


ixTnoDUCTiox.  293 

sa}^,  as  said  Dr.  Miner  in  his  address  on  the  occasion  of  the 
funeral.  "  His  faults  were  manly  faults."  In  short,  I, 
who  knew  him  well  —  who  was  closely  connected  with  him 
in  business  during  all  those  3- ears  when  he  was  most  sorely 
tried  and  perplexed  —  can  truthfully  declare  that  there  was 
no  act  of  his  life  which  a  proper  respect  for  his  memory 
would  lead  me  to  conceal.  And  I  may  say  further,  that 
his  ftiults  were  such  as  brought  him  nearer  to  our  hearts, 
in  that  they  betrayed  to  us  his  need  of  sympatli}^  and  aid 
and  love.  A  being  all  pure,  entirely  free  from  earthly 
weaknesses  —  a  man  perfect  in  thought,  word,  and  action 

—  would  be  so  entirely  above  and  beyond  the  need  of 
friendly  counsel  and  consideration,  that  we  could  onlj^ 
regard  him  with  awe  and  veneration,  yielding  to  him  our 
profoundest  respect,  while  we  kept  our  warmer  love  and 
aifection  for  those  who  were  partakers  with  us  in  some  of 
the  imperfections  to  which  humanity  is  heir. 

And,  be  it  understood,  I  do  not  sit  down  to  this  work 
because  I,  as  a  child,  wish  to  see  the  story  of  my  father's 
life  in  print.  Others  have  demanded  that  it  should  be 
written.  The  press,  throughout  the  country,  in  noticing 
his  death,  has  told  to  its  readers  that  they  would  gain 
further  knowledge  of  the -man  from  the  biography  which 
would  probably  be  written,  thus  advancing  the  idea  that 
there  was  not  onty  need,  but  expectation,  of  such  a  work. 
And  the  reader  who  has  perused  the  Autobiograph}-  will 
admit  that  the  life-story  of  the  earlier  years  of  Mr.  Cobb 
comprises  a  history  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  Universal- 
ism  in  different  parts  of  New  England.  I,  who  had  known 
so  much  of  his  early  labors,  had  forgotten,  if  I  ever  knew, 
how  many  of  the  now  flourishing  societies  of  our  denomi- 
nation were  brought  into  existence  under  his  ministrations 

—  societies  not  only  in   his  native  State,  but  here  in  the 

25* 


294  HEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,   D.D. 

vicinity  of  Boston,  where  the  light  of  Liberal  Christianity- 
is  so  elTiilgent  that  many  of  the  present  generation  seem 
inclined  to  think  that  it  is  a  heritage  derived  from  the 
Puritan  Fathers,  who,  fleeing  from  the  tyranny  of  the  Old 
World,  sought  them  a  home  upon  these  then  inhospitable 
shores,  counting  physical  comfort  and  convenience  as 
naught  if  it  must  be  held  at  the  expense  of  liberty,  —  stern, 
righteous  men,  who  — 

«  *  *  *  shook  the  depths  of  the  desert's  gloom 

With  hymns  of  lofty  cheer, 
Amidst  the  storm  they  sang, 

And  the  stars  heard,  and  the  sea, 
And  the  sounding  aisles  of  the  dim  woods  rang 

To  the  anthem  of  the  Free. 
******* 

"What  sought  they  thus  afar  ? 
******* 

They  sought  a  Faith's  pure  shrine  ; 

Ay,  call  it  holy  ground. 
The  spot  where  first  they  trod,  — 
They  have  left  unstained  what  here  they  found  — 

Freedom  to  worship  God.'* 

I  love  to  claim  those  bold,  righteous,  self-sacrificing  men 
as  the  American  Fathers  ;  and  to  them  we  are  indebted  for 
that  stern  fixedness  to  the  principles  of  Right  which  has 
given  tone  and  character  to  the  noblest  institutions  of  our 
country  ;  and  to  that  love  of  liberty,  and  unswerving  oppo- 
sition to  tyranny  and  injustice,  which  they  carefully  im- 
planted and  nurtured  in  the  bosoms  of  their  children,  are 
we  indebted  for  the  progressive  spirit  that  stamps  the  New 
England  mind.  And  we  cannot  forget  that  the  subject  of 
our  memoir  was  of  that  old  stock.  On  both  his  father's 
and  mother's  side,  as  is  shown  in  the  opening  chapter  of 
the  Autobiography,  he  was  descended  in  a  direct  line  from 


INTRODUCTION.  295 

those  Puritan  ancestors  who  were  among  the  first  to  seek 
these  shores  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  civil  and 
religious  liberty  which  could  not  be  enjo3^ed  in  the  Mother 
Country.  But  when  he  was  born  into  the  world  that 
*'  Religioics  Liberty "  had  become  an  institution  so  fixed 
and  bounded  within  a  dark  and  narrow  creed  that  it 
aflbrded  but  little  scope  to  the  cultivated,  inquiring  mind. 
From  a  principle  of  action  it  had  come  to  consist  of  a  set 
of  dogmas  and  articles  as  binding  upon  the  hearts  and  con- 
sciences of  men  as  were  ever  the  rules  and  fiats  of  the 
ecclesiastical  power  from  which  the  early  fathers  had  fled. 
The  youth  of  that  day  did  not  enjoy  the  light  that  now 
floods  the  Christian  field.  Liberal  Christianity,  stepping 
forth  upon  the  broad  and  comprehensive  plane  of  "  the 
Fatherhood  of  God,  and  the  Brotherhood  of  Man,"  in  those 
days  shocked  the  Christian  Church  as  with  ague  fits.  The 
noble,  loving  heart,  recognizing  a  brother  in  every  human 
being,  and  hoping  and  praying  for  the  final  consummation 
foreshadowed  in  the  mission  of  Christ,  found  no  help  or 
countenance  in  the  creeds  of  the  church.  The  philanthro- 
pist, laboring  to  raise  men  nearer  to  God  and  heaven 
through  the  natural  impulses  of  their  better  natures,  re- 
ceived the  cold  shoulder  "  of  the  Evangelical  priesthood. 
And  the  influence  of  the  State,  even,  so  far  as  it  was  given 
in  a  theological  direction,  entirely  ignored  everything  like 
progression  in  religious  matters. 

No,  no,  my  young  friend  of  to-day.  At  the  opening  of 
this  present  century  Liberal  Christianity  had  little  foothold 
in  New  England  ;  and  it  is  well  you  should  know  to  whom 
you  are  indebted  for  the  grand  flood  of  cheering  light  that 
now  illumines  the  Christain  household.  I  think  I  do  not 
overstate  the  matter  when  I  say,  that  no  man  has  done 
more  towards  opening  the  hearts  of  men  to  the  glorious 


296  REV.    SYLVAN  us     COUB^    D.D. 

truths  of  the  gospel  of  Rcconcilitition  than  has  Sylvanus 
Cobb.  All  over  this  section  of  our  country  are  men  now 
basking  in  the  full  light  of  a  faith  in  Christ's  redeeming 
plan  and  power  who  were  led  out  from  the  darkness  of 
Calvinism  by  his  preaching ;  and,  as  has  been  before 
stated,  there  are  mau}^  flourishing  societies  and  churches 
of  our  faith  that  owe  their  birth  to  him.  Surely  the  life 
of  such  a  man  is  worth  recording ;  and  I  have  the  faith  to 
believe  that  the  record  will  be  extensively  read. 

But  the  labors  of  Mr.  Cobb  in  the  field  of  theology,  as 
the  reader  may  have  already  discovered,  were  but  a  moiety 
of  the  work  of  his  life.  From  his  boyhood  he  had  been  an 
ardent  and  consistent  advocate  of  Reform.  When  he  first 
began  to  reason  and  reflect,  he  took  note  of  the  evils  that 
lurked  in  social  life,  as  well  as  of  those  evils  that  "  cried 
aloud  in  public."  He  saw  those  whom  he  loved  led  into 
the  w^ays  of  error  and  consequent  disgrace  and  suffering, 
and  he  sought  to  do  away  with  the  one,  and  alleviate  the 
other.  He  marked  with  unerring  judgment  those  evils 
which  the  great  majority  of  his  fellows  failed  to  perceive, 
and  at  an  early  period  he  gave  himself  to  the  labor  of  aid- 
ing humanity  in  this  direction.  As  he  grew  in  years,  and 
increased  in  knowledge,  he  discovered  that  there  were  evils 
in  the  government  of  his  country  which  needed  reforming ; 
and  when  once  he  had  made  up  his  mind  that  a  certain 
course  was  Right,  he  w^as  quick  to  follow  it.  Intemperance 
he  abhorred  from  the  da}^  when  first  he  knew  what  intem- 
perance was,  and  as  his  reason  told  him  that  dram- 
di'inking  was  the  cause  thereof  he  opposed  the  habit  in 
toto.  His  premises  were  simple  and  comprehensive : 
Rum-drinking  did  no  good  ;  Rum-drinking  did  an  incalcu- 
lable amount  of  mischief;  tliereforc,  Rum-drinking  was  an 
evil  that  should  be  banished  entirely.     And  at  all  proper 


INTRODUCTION.  297 

times,  and  in  all  proper  places,  he  was  bold  to  raise  his 
voice  against  it. 

By  and  by  Mr.  Cobb  came  to  understand  that  the  genius 
of  our  Democratic  and  Republican  institutions  was  in  direct 
opposition  to  the  spirit  of  Chattel  Slavery,  and  at  an  early 
day  he  identified  himself  with  the  then  comparatively 
small,  but  intellectual  and  zealous,  party  in  opposition  to 
this  national  evil.  He  saw,  and  foretold,  the  dangers  to 
the  government  in  the  upholding  and  spreading  of  Slavery, 
and  he  was  bold  to  declare  that  the  aegis  of  Liberty  and 
Independence  should  rest  upon  all  who  trod  American  soil. 

But  he  went  further  than  this.  He  believed  that  the 
pure  spirit  of  Christianity  was  opposed  to  these  evils,  and 
that  it  became  the  duty  of  the  Christian  minister,  devolving 
upon  him  by  virtue  of  his  office,  to  cry  aloud  against  them. 
While  Intemperance  was  a  powerful  instrumentality,  work- 
ing to  destroy  both  soul  and  bodj^,  and  tending  directly  to 
lead  men  awa}^  from  the  fold  of  Jesus,  it  surely  belonged 
to  the  pulpit  to  do  battle  against  it.  And  while  Slavery  was 
not  only  degrading  the  children  of  men,  and  leading  to 
sins  so  corrupt  that  the  heart  of  humanit}^  stood  appalled 
thereat,  but  shutting  up  the  word  of  God  to  millions  of  our 
fellow  beings,  it  did  seem  to  him  to  come  within  the  legit- 
imate province  of  the  Christian  minister  to  speak  out 
boldly  and  manfully  against  the  sin ;  and  if  the  sin  had 
become  the  heritage  of  a  nation,  then  the  more  need  was 
there  for  hon'est,  liberty-loving  teachers  to  set  manfully 
about  the  work  of  reform. 

And,  further  still :  Mr.  Cobb  believed  that  if  any  body 
of  Christians  owed  it  to  their  cause  to  identify  themselves 
with  the  reform  movements,  surely  the  Universalist  denom- 
ination rested  under  that  obligation.  Theirs  was  a  doc- 
trine  of  Love   and   Good  Will   to   all   mankind.     They 


298  liEF.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

believed  that  all  men,  without  regard  to  caste  or  color, 
Avere  brethren,  and  all  partakers  of  the  rich  inheritance 
vouchsafed  through  Christ  the  Saviour.  How  could  a  Uni- 
versalist  uphold  Slavery  ?  How  could  a  Universalist  min- 
ister, by  his  silence,  appear  to  give  countenance  to  the 
dreadful  evil? 

It  was  at  this  point  that  Mr.  Cobb  commenced  that 
labor  which,  after  all,  should  be  regarded  as  the  triumph 
of  his  life.  His  early  preaching  of  Universalism  in  local- 
ities where  the  light  of  the  blessed  faith  had  never  been 
shed  was  a  joy  and  a  privilege,  not  only  to  himself,  but  to 
hundreds  who  heard  ;  and  he  was  eagerly  listened  to  by 
those  who  sought  the  truth.  He  there  went  into  places  of 
darkness  with  the  effulgence  of  redeeming  love  and  grace, 
and  led  people  up  out  from  ignorance  and  error  into  the 
possession  and  enjoyment  of  true  religion.  He  encoun- 
tered no  opposition  from  friends,  and  his  labor  was  grate- 
ful and  inspiring.  His  only  opponents  were  those  who 
openl}^  opposed  his  S3'stem  of  faith,  and  against  them  he 
was  armed  with  the  whole  weight  of  gospel  evidence.  It 
was  a  pleasant  task  to  meet  in  the  battle  of  debate  the 
enemies  of  God's  loving  kindness  towards  all  his  children  ; 
and  his  soul  thirsted  for  contact  in  argument  with  those 
who  denied  the  power  of  Jesus  Christ  to  consummate  the 
work  which  the  Father  had  given  him  to  do.  In  that  labor 
he  had  no  half-way  friends  —  none  who  were  willing  to 
admit  the  justice  of  his  claims,  but  unwilling  to  hear  them 
presented  —  none  who  acknowledged  the  truth  of  his  prem- 
ises, but  feared  its  promulgation.  There  were  no  divis- 
ions in  the  household  of  faith  ;  but  all  worked  together  for 
the  upbuilding  of  the  temple,  acknowledging  one  Master, 
and  making  duty  a  pleasure,  and  labor  a  joy. 

But  he  found  a  vastly  different  state  of  things  when  he 


INTRODUCTION. 


299 


entered  upon  the  new  field  of  labor.  He  had  planned  that 
he  would,  so  far  as  he  was  able,  identify  the  Universalist 
denomination,  as  a  great  moral  and  religious  power,  with 
the  needed  reforms  of  the  day,  and  more  especially  with 
the  Temperance  and  Anti-Slavery  reforms.  As  I  have 
already  stated,  his  own  heart  was  given  to  the  work,  and 
he  desired  much  to  see  the  denomination  which  he  loved, 
and  to  the  upbuilding  of  which  he  had  given  so  much  of 
his  time  and  energies,  lend  its  influence  in  the  same  direc- 
tion. To  this  end  he  established  "The  Christian  Free- 
man AND  Family  Visiter,"  and  sent  his  prospectus  forth  to 
the  world.  How  well  do  I  remember  the  reception  it  met 
at  the  hands  of  the  ministering  brethren,  and  more  partic- 
ularly at  the  hands  of  those  who  were  already  engaged  in 
the  work  of  publishing  denominational  periodicals.  Direct 
opposition  came  from  some  quarters,  while  •  nearly  all 
turned  the  "  cold  shoulder  upon  his  bantling."  All  pro- 
fessed to  be  his  friends,  and  many  who  looked  coldly  upon 
his  effort  were  his  friends ;  and  those  who  most  bitterly 
opposed  him  declared  that  they  wished  him  all  sorts  of 
success,  though  they  feared  it  would  be  otherwise.  Some 
of  the  ministering  brethren  upon  whom  he  had  counted  for 
cooperation  and  assistance  were  afraid  to  show  their  hands 
in  the  work.  They  were  friendly  to  the  cause  of  Tem- 
perance, and  they  believed  that  Slavery  was  a  giant  wrong 
that  ought  to  be  abolished ;  and,  furthermore,  they  appre- 
ciated the  moral  courage  and  devotion  which  led  to  the 
conception  and  establishment  of  the  "  Christian  Freeman  ; " 
but  they  feared  that  the  -  introduction  of  those  exciting 
topics  into  the  Universalist  press  and  pulpit  would  work 
mischief  to  the  denominational  body.  In  vain  did  the 
intrepid  publisher  plead  that  Right  must  prosper,  and  that 
wrong  must  crumble  and  fall ;  and  in  vain  did  he  argue 


300  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

that  that  body  or  Society  which  would  have  countenance 
of  God  must  stand  out  in  the  world  as  champion  of  the 
Right  and  opposer  of  the  Wrong.  "  The  people  are  not 
prepared,"  said  the  timid  ones.  "Then  let  us  prepar'e 
them,"  answered  the  editor  through  his  Freeman.  "  But 
such  an  attempt  will  produce  dissension  in  the  church," 
plead  the  fearful  friends.  "  Such  dissension  will  be  but 
as  the  working  of  the  leaven,"  was  the  editor's  answer. 
"  Those  who  cannot  put  on  the  whole  armor  of  Christ 
should  not  be  allowed  to  hold  the  hands  and  seal  the  lips 
of  the  true  Christian  warrior," 

However,  Mr.  Cobb  had  laid  his  plans,  and  he  was  not 
the  man  to  turn  back  in  his  work  because  some  of  his  friends 
failed  him  in  the  hour  of  need.  It  had  thus  far  been  a  rule 
of  his  life,  as  fixed  as  were  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and  Per- 
sians, that  what  his  hands  found  to  do  in  the  direction  of 
Right  and  Justice,  he  would  do  at  all  hazards.  This  was 
one  of  the  distinguishing  traits  of  his  character,  about 
which  I  shall  have  more  to  say  hereafter.  He  went  on 
with  his  work,  relying  upon  God  for  strength  and  support, 
and  we  have  seen  the  end.  One  after  another  of  the  min- 
istering brethren  stepped  forth  into  the  field,  and  the  time 
came  when  the  good  man  saw  his  highest  anticipations  more 
than  realized.  It  came  that  other  Universalist  papers 
spoke  out  boldly  in  behalf  of  Temperance,  though  upon  the 
subject  of  Anti-Slavery  they  were  more  reticent.  This  lat- 
ter reform  chanced  to  tread  somewhat  heavily  upon  the 
corns  and  bunions  of  an  old  and  egotistical  political  part}^, 
and  few  were  the  publishers  of  religious  periodicals  in  those 
days  who  dared  even  to  admit  a  discussion  of  the  subject 
into  their  columns,  much  less  to  speak  out  publicly  them- 
selves ;  and  it  was  a  long  time  before  even  a  respectable 


INTRODUCTION.  301 

majority  of  our  ministers  dared  to  lift  their  voices  in  the 
pulpit  in  behalf  of  an  enslaved  and  down-trodden  race. 

In  speaking  of  the  establishment  of  his  paper  Mr.  Cobb 
says,  —  "I  believed  that  I  had  this  mission  assigned  to  me 
of  God,  and  that  he  would  sustain  and  prosper  me  in  it. 
And,"  he  adds,  "more  than  my  highest  hopes  in  it  were 
realized." 

Never  were  words  more  true  if  we  count  the  success  of 
the  mission  in  its  results  to  the  world  of  humanity.  But, 
so  far  as  that  success  is  concerned  for  which  most  men 
labor,  we  might  term  the  result  of  the  mission  a  failure. 
It  impoverished  him,  and  kept  him  poor  and  harassed  all 
the  rest  of  his  days.  It  added  not  a  penny  of  treasure  to 
his  purse,  but  swallowed  up  everything  of  money  he  could 
gain  from  other  sources.  His  da^'s  and  nights  of  unremit- 
ting toil  wore  dow^i  his  powerful  frame,  and  sapped  the 
foundations  of  a  constitution  such  as  few  men  are  blessed 
with.  And  what  was  his  return  for  all  this  ?  It  was  the 
return  of  a  success  more  holy  and  precious  than  the  pos- 
session of  material  wealth.  He  lived  to  see  one  after 
another  of  the  religious  papers  wheel  into  the  line  of  Re- 
form, and  devote  a  part  of  their  space  to  the  promulgation 
of  other  moral  and  social  truths  than  those  of  theolog}'. 
He  lived  to  see  the  denomination  to  which  he  belonged 
identify  itself  so  thoroughly  with  the  cause  of  Temperance, 
and  with  the  cause  of  Anti-Slavery,  that  a  Universalist 
minister  who  did  not  plant  himself  squarely  and  openly 
upon  the  platform  of  God's  Law  in  social  and  political 
affairs,  would  have  been  as  much  out  of  place  as  would  be 
the  commanding  generals  of  an  armj^,  while  a  battle  was 
raging,  skulking  in  the  hospital  and  commissary  store. 

And  what  further  did  he  live  to  see  ?  What  further  re- 
ward had  he  for  the  labors  of  the  last  quarter  of  a  century 


302  REV.  SYLVAyrs   ro/;//,    />.  />. 

of  his  life  ?  He  lived  to  see  it  all  developed  as  lie  had 
foretold  in  the  other  j^ears.  The  giant  wrong  had  strode 
on,  permitted  by  the  people  to  put  its  sacrilegious  hand 
upon  our  most  sacred  institutions,  and  to  point  the  mur- 
derous steel  to  the  very  heart  of  the  nation.  And  he  lived 
to  see  this  monster  wrong  crushed  out  forever  ;  the  shackles 
broken  from  the  limbs  of  the  slave  cverj^where  within  our 
broad  domain ;  the  infamous  law  of  Might  over  Right 
stricken  from  the  statute  book ;  and  Liberty  proclaimed 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land ! 

Surely,  he  could  with  truth  exclaim,  when  speaking  of 
his  noble  mission,  —  "More  than  my  highest  hopes  in  it 
were  realized." 

And  it  devolves  upon  me  to  lay  before  the  reader  the 
events  of  Mr.  Cobb's  life  during  the  years  of  his  labor  in 
this  field.  I  must  needs  tell  the  story  briefly  ;  and  I  will 
be  true  and  faithful  to  the  record. 


THE    MEMOIR. 


CHAPTER  I.     A.  D.  1839. 

The  New  House, — Plans  for  the  Future,  —  Business 
Perplexities,  Characteristics,  &c. 

The  last  pages  of  the  Autobiography  were  written  in  the 
month  of  September,  1866.  Mr.  Cobb  had  been  able,  dur- 
ing the  Summer,  to  take  his  pen  once  in  a  while  and  devote 
brief  periods  —  say,  from  fifteen  minutes  to  half  an  hour  — 
to  the  work  in  hand  ;  but  he  could  not  do  much.  His 
nerves  had  become  so  shattered,  and  his  general  S3^stem  so 
weak,  that  his  phj'sician^  had  forbidden  an}^  extended  men- 
tal effort ;  but  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  keep  his  mind 
from  the  subject  of  his  life-story,  and  it  came  very  hard 
for  him  to  be  shut  away  from  his  desk  ;  so  he  stole  out  into 
his  study  occasionally  an4-  grasped  the  old  familiar  pen  ; 
but  the  hand  and  the  head  soon  wearied,  and  his  sittings 
were  very  short. 

On  the  first  day  of  October,  having  business  of  impor- 
tance in  that  direction,  and  entertaining  the  hope  that  the 
trip  might  do  him  good,  he  went,  with  his  wife,  to  New 
York.  After  his  return  home  he  went  to  his  desk  and  put 
his  pen  to  the  work  once  more,  —  I  believe  only  once.  His 
manuscript  was  in  small  bound  books,  not  much  larger 
than  the  copy-books  that  are  used  in  our  common  schools, 


304  JIEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

and  skipping  several  blank  pages  from  where  he  had  writ- 
ten the  two  paragraphs  following  Miss  Edgarton's  poem, 
and  which  were  the  last  of  his  connected  sentences,  I  find 
what  he  wrote  on  that  occasion.  It  is  in  a  cramped,  trem- 
ulous hand,  betraying  pain  and  unrest,  the  chirography 
showing  plainly  that  the  body  was  weak,  while  its  discon- 
nection from  the  rest  of  the  work  would  seem  to  indicate 
that  his  mind  could  only  grasp  familiar  fragments  of  the 
story,  fixed  in  his  memor}^  by  the  startling  character  of 
their  associations.     And  this  was  what  he  wrote  :  — 

"THE  NEW  HOUSE. 

"  In  the  spring  of  this  year  (1839)  I  purchased  twelve  acres 
of  land  of  Jacob  Farwell,  on  Church  Street,  for  a  kitchen  garden, 
and  pasturing  and  mowing  for  a  horse  and  cow ;  and  during  the 
year  built  upon  it  a  pleasant  house  for  my  family  residence,  into 
which  we  moved  in  the  Fall.  I  have  said  before  that  I  had  a 
penchant  for  building,  and  living  in,  a  house  of  my  own.  I 
planned  all  my  houses  for  myself,  always  giving  special  atten- 
tion to  the  women's  great  chemical  laboratory,  the  kitchen — its 
structure,  its  location  relative  to  the  other  rooms,  and  to  a  con- 
venient supply  of  wood  and  water ;  and  to  the  pleasantness  and 
healthiness  of  sleeping-rooms." 

And  there  his  pen  was  laid  aside.  What  would  have 
been  his  story  of  the  "  New  House  "  I  cannot  tell ;  but  I 
am  sure  it  would  have  been  far  different  from  the  story  I 
shall  tell.  He  never  would  have  referred  to  the  painful  and 
vexatious  trials  which  that  house  cost  him,  while  I  shall 
make  no  secret  of  the  truth.  He  built  the  house,  as  he  did 
all  things  in  his  lifetime,  for  the  good  of  others.  For  the 
sake  of  his  large  family  he  shouldered  the  burden,  and  bore 
it  while  he  could.  He  had  been  living  in  a  bulky,  double 
house  on  the  main  street,  w^hich  he  rented  of  the  manufac- 
turing corporation  ;  the  apartments  of  which  were  so  abom- 


THE   MEMOIR.  305 

iuably  arranged  that  the  labor  of  the  housewife  was  per- 
plexingly  and  painfully  augmented ;  and  the  situation  of 
which  directly  in  the  centre  of  the  busy  village,  was  very 
unfavorable  to  the  running  at  large  of  his  younger  children. 
For  the  sake  of  his  family  he  wished  a  more  comfortable 
and  convenient  home ;  and  he  was  determined  that  they 
should  have  it ;  and  to  this  end  he  purchased  the  land  of 
Mr.  Far  well,  and  erected  his  dwelling. 

No  man  had  a  more  clear  and  comprehensive  view  of  the 
general  principles  and  possibilities  of  business  than  had 
he  ;  and  there  were  very  few  men,  if  any,  who  were  better 
qualified  to  give  advice  to  young  men  just  starting  out 
into  the  business  world  ;  but  when  he  came  to  do  business 
for  himself  upon  a  more  extended  scale  than  he  had  been 
used  to  —  when  he  entered  upon  business  that  required 
financial  tact  and  judgment  —  he  failed  to  grasp  and  prop- 
erly estimate  a  thousand-and-one  minutiae  upon  the  care 
and  disposition  of  which  the  success  of  all  business  enter- 
prises must  rest,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest.  His  hope 
and  faith  were  unbounded ;  and  as  he  started  all  his 
projects  in  a  spirit  of  love  and  good  will  to  others  than 
himself,  how  natural  it  was  that  he  should  cherish  the 
belief  that  "  all  would  come  out  right  in  the  end."  He 
thought  he  could  see  this  happy  consummation  of  events 
in  the  very  nature  and  necessity  of  the  work  he  had  laid 
out.  Let  it  not  be  for  a  moment  supposed  that  Mr.  Cobb 
had  ever  a  disposition  to  trust  things  of  importance  to 
chance.  No,  —  he  was  always  very  particular  in  lading  it 
down  as  a  rule  of  life  that  men  must  labor  diligently  for 
those  blessings,  both  temporal  and  spiritual,  which  they 
w^ould  enjoy.  What  I  mean  is,  that  his  great  Hope  led 
him  to  place  too  much  reliance  upon  what  ought  to  he;  and 
he  laid  down  grand  plans  in  the  abstract,  sure  that  they 
26* 


306  REy\  SYLVAMJS   conn^  u.o. 

were  right  n,nd  proper,  and  went  at  work  upon  them  with 
the  faith  that  lie  should  be  able  to  meet  and  successfully 
dispose  of  minor  exigencies  as  they  arose.  Thus  far  in 
life,  keeping  himself  within  the  bounds  of  the  ordinary 
business  transactions  necessary  to  his  profession  as  a 
religious  and  moral  teacher,  he  had  been  blessed  with  a 
success  equal  to  his  most  ardent  desires  ;  for  I  know  that 
it  never  entered  into  his  heart  to  make  money  for  the  sake 
of  seeing  the  golden  pile  grow  in  his  coffers.  Ilis  desires 
were  moderate ;  and  I  am  able  to  distinctly  state  what 
were  the  themes  of  his  ambition  :  They  were,  Firsts  —  The 
peace  and  happiness  and  prosperity  of  those  whom  he 
loved,  and  who  were  dependent  upon  him  ;  and.  Second. — 
That  social,  moral,  and  religious  elevation  of  society  which 
was  to  result  from  the  perfect  understanding  of  God's 
Gospel  Purpose  as  revealed  through  Jesus  Christ,  and  a 
spreading,  and  adoption  by  the  people,  of  the  principles  of 
Temperance  and  Human  Freedom.  Upon  these  themes  he 
contemplated,  and  by  the  dictates  derived  therefrom  he 
regulated  his  life  and  actions.  He  gave  the  whole  strength 
of  soul  and  body  to  the  work  thus  set  for  him  to  do ;  and 
his  labor  was  as  tireless  and  faithful  as  his  judgment  had 
been  right  and  just. 

This  may  seem  like  digression ;  but  I  could  not  go  on  to 
speak  of  the  "  New  House"  without  being  prepared  to  tell 
the  whole  truth ;  and  I  could  not,  in  justice  to  the  truly 
gi'eat  and  good  man,  make  a  plain  statement  of  all  the 
facts  without  first  preparing  the  mind  of  the  reader  to 
receive  them  understandingly. 

The  house  in  Waltham  was  the  first  venture  of  his  life 
which  involved  the  assumption  of  any  considerable  debt. 
"When  he  moved  from  Maiden  he  was  the  possessor  of  a 
sum  of  money  which,  in  the  light  of  his  simple,  unassum- 


THE   MEMOIR.  307 

ing  habits,  rendered  him  in  a  measure  independent,  —  not 
independent  of  work,  but  independent  of  want  and  debt 
while  his  health  was  spared.  The  man  of  wealth  would 
smile  at  the  idea  of  importance  given  to  that  trivial  sum  ; 
and  many  a  merchant  in  Boston  derives  of  profit  from  his 
business  every  day  a  sum  equal  to  that  which  made  Sj^lva- 
nus  Cobb  feel  rich  and  proud  when  it  was  entirely  his,  and 
he  owed  no  man  anything  therefrom. 

When  Mr.  Cobb  vStarted  his  paper  he  paid  cash  for  every- 
thing he  bought ;  and  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  he  had 
full  faith  that  ere  long  the  bread  thus  cast  upon  the  waters 
would  return  to  him.  He  expected  to  labor  and  to  wait, 
and  he  was  prepared  for  trial  and  tribulation.  He  knew 
that  the  paper-maker  would  have  to  be  paid  from  week  to 
week,  and  that  those  who  worked  in  the  office  must  have 
their  daily  bread ;  and  to  meet  these  wants  he  travelled 
much  over  the  country,  lecturing  and  preaching,  and  at  the 
same  time  getting  subscribers  to  his  paper.  Of  the  money 
he  had  on  hand  at  the  beginning  of  his  enterprise  he  set 
apart  a  few  hundred  dollars  for  the  new  house,  so  that  he 
was  called  upon  to  feel  a  stringency  in  the  financial  depart- 
ment of  his  publishing  business  sooner  than  he  might 
otherwise  have  done  ;  and  when  this  came,  of  course  it 
could  not  be  long  before  the  business  of  building  was  beset 
by  the  same  evil. 

In  justice  to  my  father  I  ought  here  ta  state  that  he 
would  not  probably  have  commenced  his  house  as  he  did  if 
his  friend  Farwell  had  not  made  him  a  present  of  the 
building-lot  and  garden  spot.  So  much  of  land  was  given 
to  him,  and  after  that  he  purchased  twelve  acres,  adjoining, 
of  the  same  party.  And,  even  now,  when  he  began  to  feel 
the  pressure  at  his  publishing  oflice,  it  is  doubtful  if  he 
would  have  gone  on  with  his  building  had  he  not  supposed 


308  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

tlhit  he  could  make  some  turn  of  Ins  extra  land  to  ad- 
vantage. In  fact,  I  am  sure  he  had  brought  himself  to 
believe  that  the  land  he  had  bought  was  going  to  pay  all 
expenses,  and  leave  him  something  beside.  He  knew  that 
the  towns  round  about  Boston  were  destined  to  grow,  and 
there  was  no  town  which  at  that  time  gave  indications  of 
more  rapid  growth  than  did  Waltham.  He  had  selected 
the  twelve  acres  with  this  idea  in  mind,  and  he  congratu- 
lated himself  that  he  had  secured  a  grand  chance  for  help- 
ing himself  and  his  family  to  a  home  without  cramping 
him  in  another  quarter.  He  made  a  critical  survey  of  his 
newl}^  acquired  territor^^,  and  traced  a  rough  draught  upon 
paper.  There  were  streets  to  be  opened  through,  and  thus 
were  to  be  developed  some  of  the  most  eligible  building- 
lots  for  dwellings  in  the  town.  There  would  be  a  choice 
lot  for  each  of  his  children,  with  room  for  a  house  and  a 
sufficient  kitchen  garden  ;  and  be3^ond  that  there  would  be 
left  enough  for  sale  to  other  parties  to  return  a  snug  little 
sum  over  and  above  all  that  he  would  be  required  to 
expend. 

How  well  I  remember  the  proud  and  happy  light  that 
beamed  upon  the  good  man's  face  when  he  took  Samuel  T. 
and  myself  out,  with  his  draught  in  his  hand,  to  present  to 
us  the  details  of  his  plan,  and  discuss  their  merits.  We 
stood  upon  an  eminence  overlooking  the  twelve-acre  lot, 
and  our  father  showed  to  us  where  our  houses  were  to  be 
erected,  and  where  the  other  children  were  to  have  homes. 
He  explained  to  us  how  desirable  those  building-lots  would 
be  as  soon  as  he  had  laid  out  broad  and  commodious 
streets,  with  shade  trees  planted  at  proper  intervals  by  the 
wayside,  and  we  might  depend  upon  it  that  ere  long  — 
perhaps  in  a  very  few  years  —  there  would  be  a  pretty, 
thi'iving  village  upon  his  land.     What  a  glorious  thing  it 


THE    MEMOIR.  300 

would  be  to  have  bis  children  grow  up  and  settle  around 
him,  and  be  able  to  establish  them  in  life  !  He  fondly 
hoped  that  his  paper  would  eventually  make  business 
enough  for  all  his  sons  ;  and  no  patriarch  of  olden  time 
ever  realized  a  more  peaceful  and  happy  gathering  in  of 
children  and  of  children's  children  to  contiguous  homes  in 
the  promised  land,  than  was  pictured  at  that  time  in  the 
bright  hopefulness  of  this  provident  and  tender-hearted 
father. 

The  house  was  built  after  designs  furnished  by  Mr. 
Cobb,  and  when  completed  it  was,  as  he  had  intended  it 
should  be,  a  model  of  convenience  and  simple  architectural 
beauty.  There  was  not  a  dollar  expended  for  outside 
show,  but  all  was  appropriated  to  the  comfort  and  well- 
being  of  the  inmates.  It  was  finished  thoroughly  through- 
out, and  no  expense  was  spared  in  making  it  such  a  home 
as  he  desired  for  himself  and  family. 

And  for  some  time  he  held  to  the  hopes  which  had  made 
bright  with  promise  his  opening  labors  upon  that  home. 
After  he  had  moved  into  the  new  dwelling  he  still  for  a 
season  went  on  with  a  more  thorough  draughting  of  plans 
for  the  establishment  of  his  colony,  being  very  unwilling 
to  give  up  the  idea  that  the  land  was  yet  to  yield  him  some 
return  of  the  money  he  had  expended.  But  his  hopes  were 
vain ;  and  his  plans,  if  ever  carried  out,  were  left  to  others 
with  their  benefits.  His  paper,  instead  of  jielding  any  in- 
come towards  paj-ing  for  the  house,  required  every  dollar 
he  could  raise  for  its  support,  and  ere  long  he  began  to  feel 
the  weight  of  troubles  and  perplexities  that  were  to  bear 
sorely  upon  him  for  many  years.  To  meet  his  pecuniary 
liabilities,  and  at  the  same  time  to  uphold  and  maintain  the 
paper  which  he  had  determined  to  make  an  evangel  to  those 
who  dwelt  in  darkness  and  in  bonds,  he  commenced  that 


310  liEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

system  of  labor  which  was  in  the  end  to  break  down  his 
herculean  frame, and  to  make  him  old  before  his  time.  For, 
with  such  a  constitution  as  he  inherited,  guarded  as  it  was 
by  a  life-long  total  abstinence  from  all  stimulants  and 
narcotics,  and  with  the  natural  tendency  of  the  system  to 
health  and  longevity,*  he  should  haA^e  "been  still  in  his 
prime  at  the  age  of  three-score-and-ten  ;  or,  at  all  events, 
he  should  have  been  hale  and  hearty,  and  in  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  all  the  faculties  of  life  ;  and  so  he  would  have  been 
but  for  these  needs  and  perplexities  which  led  him  to  task 
himself  with  labor  such  as  no  mortal  organization  can  bear. 
At  the  opening  of  this  chapter  I  said  that  my  father 
would  have  told  the  story  of  the  "  New  House"  differently 
from  what  I  should  tell  it, — that  he  would  never  have 
referred  to  the  painful  and  vexatious  trials  w^hich  that 
house  cost  him.  And  he  never  was  wont  to  refer  to  them 
at  all.  He  never  brought  his  trials  home  with  him.  In  the 
bosom  of  his  family  he  never  told  of  his  troubles.  If  there 
were  clouds  upon  him,  he  suffered  them  not  to  cast  gloom 
over  the  household  ;  so  that  one  not  associated  with  him  in 
business  might  have  been  an  inmate  of  his  home  for  j^ears 
and  never  have,  discovered  that  his  business  entailed  upon 
him  else  than  pleasure  and  satisfaction.  He  was  always 
sure  to  bring  home  with  him,  and  to  tell  it  with  beaming 
face,  every  scrap  and  item  of  cheering  intelligence  ;  and  so 
he  was  anxious  to  share  with  his  family  all  the  joys  and 
comforts  he  could  command; — but  never,  to  my  knowl- 
edge, did  he  knowingly  give  his  loved  ones  to  see  that  he 


*  Longevity  forms  a  characteristic  chapter  in  the  history  of  Mr.  Cobb's  ances- 
tors. Among  others  of  his  immediate  relations  who  lived  to  an  advanced  age, 
was  Ebenezer  Cobb,  born  in  Plymouth,  in  1694,  and  died  in  Kingston,  in  1801,  at 
the  age  of  one  hundred  and  seven  years. 


THE   MEMOIR.  311 

had  any  cause  for  pain  and  unrest,  either  in  business  dis- 
appointments, or  in  apprehensions  for  the  future. 

I  know  that  Mr.  Cobb  struck  his  first  blow  upon  that 
twelve-acre  lot  with  visions  of  bright  promise  opening  be- 
fore him ;  but  I  think  I  may  safely  say  that  never  was  a 
heavier  burden  cast  from  his  shoulders  than  when  he  finally 
sold  the  "  New  House  in  Waltham." 


312  PiEF.    SYLJ'AXUS    COBB,   D.D. 


CHAPTER  II. 

The    Slave   Power,  —  The    Christian   Freeman,  —  Its 
Prospectus,  —  Salutatory. 

People  living  in  the  enjoyment  of  blessings  which  thej'' 
have  had  no  hand  in  bringing  about  are  very  apt  to  under- 
estimate the  labors  of  those  through  whose  instrumentality 
such  blessings  have  been  given  to  the  world.  People  of 
the  coming  generation,  basking  in  the  full  light  of  Human 
Libert}',  will  be  slow  to  believe  that  even  in  the  middle  of 
the  nineteenth  century  the  press  and  pulpit  of  these  Free 
States,  with  few  exceptions,  rested  to  such  an  extent  be- 
neath the  influence  of  the  Slave  Power  that  they  dared  not 
give  utterance  to  anj- thing  like  denunciation  of  that  giant 
wrong  ;  while  most  of  our  secular  periodicals,  and  many  of 
our  Christian  clergymen,  dared  not  even  breathe  a  word 
against  the  foul  institution  in  any  way  or  manner.  Wh}'', 
even  now,  when  the  smoke  of  the  conflict  has  hardly  been 
lifted  from  the  scene,  there  are  thousands  of  honest,  intelli- 
gent men  in  our  land  who  do  not  fully  comprehend  how 
completely  the  spirit  of  Slavery  had  muzzled  the  sources 
of  general  information,  and  moral  and  social  instruction, 
wliich  they  took  to  their  homes  for  the  entertainment  and 
edification  of  themselves  and  families.  Not  only  were  the 
republications  by  American  houses  of  foreign  works  sadly 
mutilated  by  expunging,  or  altering,  passages  that  chanced 
to  bear  upon  chattel  Slavery  ;  but  our  own  authors  found 


THE   MEMOIR. 


313 


themselves  often  painfully  tripped  by  the  fear  on  the  part 
of  publishers  of  offending  pro-slavery  patrons. 

So  now,  when  nearly  every  newspaper  in  the  North 
grows  jubilant  over  the  privilege  of  bestowing  vigorous  and 
hearty  kicks  upon  the  dead  carcass  of  Slavery,  we  must 
not  forget  that  less  than  ten  years  have  passed  since  a 
majority  of  those  same  papers  did  not  dare  to  look  the 
monster  in  the  face. 

Thus  much  by  way  of  introduction  to  the  subject  of  Mr. 
Cobb's  labor  in  the  publication  of  the  "  Christian  Freeman 
AND  Family  Visiter." 

In  the  Prospectus  for  his  paper,  he  states  that  it  will  be 
devoted  to  "Religion,  Literature,  News,  and  Universal 
Freedom,"  and  after  stating  what  will  be  the  character  of 
its  religious  teachings,  &c.,  he  proceeds,  as  follows,  to  give 
those  features  which  will  distinguish  his  paper  from  other 
denominational  publications :  — 

"Attention  will  also  be  given  to  the  aid  of  the  Temperance 
Reform,  and  the  loosing  of  the  bonds  of  our  brethren  in  slavery. 
And  the  rule  for  conducting  the  whole,  shall  be  that  charity, 
which  *  suffereth  long  and  is  kind,'  which  '  rejoiceth  not  in  in- 
iquity, but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth.' 

*•  As  to  the  need  of  such  a  paper,  the  public  may  be  assured 
that  I  should  not  have  undertaken  its  publication,  but  in  the 
sober  conviction  that  it  is  called  for  by  the  wants  of  the  commu- 
nity. We  have  papers  devoted  to  the  dissemination  of  our  relig- 
ious views,  and  ably  conducted.  But  their  editors  choose  so  to 
conduct  them  as  to  gain  and  continae  their  admission,  bearing 
our  doctrines  of  faith,  into  those  states  and  families  whose  preju- 
dices would  exclude  them  if  they  devoted  earnest  and  persever- 
ing labor  to  the  causes  of  Temperance  and  Universal  Freedom. 
I  cast  upon  them  no  censures ;  — I  wish  them  God-speed  in  their 
Christian  labors  as  far  as  they  see  fit  to  carry  them.  It  is  my 
purpose  to  supply  a  desideratum  in  our  religious  denomination, 
a  public  journal  which,  while  it  shall  co-oi5erate  with  others  in 
*  contending  earnestly  for  the  faith  which  was  once  delivered  to 
27 


314  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

the  saints,'  shall  furthermore  carry  out  the  principles  of  this  faith 
in  their  bearing  upon  the  interests  and  duties  of  all  our  relations, 
in  the  fiimily,  in  society,  in  the  state,  and  in  the  world.  It  is 
my  design  to  contribute  faithful  endeav.ors  to  promote  the  cul- 
ture of  that  spirit  in  the  Universalist  fraternity,  which  shall  more 
and  more  conform  us  to  what  we  should  be,  as  a  body  of  Chris- 
tians, distinguished  as  believers  in  the  God  of  universal  active 
benevolence,  and  Jesus  the  efficient  Saviour,  who  labored  and  suf- 
fered reproach,  and  laid  down  his  life,  for  the  cause  of  universal 
love,  emancipation  and  peace." 

This  Pi'ospectus  was  issued  on  the  24th  of  February, 
nearly  two  months  before  the  appearance  of  the  first  num- 
ber of  the  paper,  and  it  was  widely  circulated,  and  vari- 
ously commented  upon ;  and  some  of  the  brethren,  before 
they  had  seen  the  Freeman  itself,  began  to  "  throw  cold 
water  "  upon  the  concern  ;  while  others,  who  had  long  felt 
the  need  of  a  denominational  publication,  in  the  columns 
of  which  could  be  discussed  all  the  great  reform  movements 
of  the  age,  hailed  its  prospective  advent  with  joy ;  and 
these  words  of  cheer,  coming  from  men  of  refinement  and 
moral  worth,  gave  strength  to  the  workman  as  he  pursued 
his  great  and  arduous  undertaking. 

But  he  had  some  true  and  tried  friends  —  friends  who 
had  stood  by  him  in  the  years  that  were  passed,  and  who 
continued  to  stand  by  him  while  he  lived,  —  who  opposed 
the  introduction  of  "  tliose  exciting  topics  "  into  his  paper. 
One  man  —  one  who  was  held  very  near  to  his  heart,  and 
upon  whom  he  had  depended  much  for  encouragement  and 
support,  —  wrote  to  him  a  letter  on  the  occasion.  He 
meant  to  take  the  paper,  and  he  would  do  what  he  could  to 
circulate  it  among  his  neighbors  ;  "For,"  he  wrote,  "  I  am 
satisfied  that  you  are  the  man  to  print  Universalism,  as  you 
have  been  the  man  to  preach  it.  But,"  he  adds,  "lam 
sorry  you  could  not  make  up  your  mind  to  give  us  a  good 


THE   MEMOIR.  815 

Universalist  paper  imtliout  meddling  with  Rum  and  Nig- 
gers ! " 

Upon  such  a  missive  from  some  men  Mr.  Cobb  would 
simply  have  smiled  ;  but  in  the  morning  of  his  enterprise, 
when,  if  ever,  he  needed  the  sympathy  of  his  friends  as 
well  as  their  cooperation,  such  things,  from  such  a  source, 
gave  him  pain ;  and  yet,  at  the  same  time,  they  gave  him 
strength  ;  for  they  called  into  exercise  that  spirit  of  perse- 
verance and  energy  without  which  success  is  not  to  be  at- 
tained. To  such  men  he  meant  to  show  that  he  was  on  the 
side  of  Right,  trusting  that  in  due  time  they  would  see  and 
acknowledge  the  justness  of  his  position. 

The  first  number  of  the  Qhristian  Freeman  was  issued 
on  the  19th  of  April,  1839,  and  as  the  "  Editorial  Saluta- 
tory^^' presents  in  a  clear  and  concise  form  the  motives 
which  actuated  him  in  the  publication,  and  the  principles 
upon  which  he  proposed  to  pursue  the  work,  I  will  give  it 
entire :  — 

*♦  EDITORIAL   SALUTATORY. 

*'  We  salute  the  Christian  pubhc  with  good  wishes,  and  proffer 
them  fraternal  counsel,  and  kind  instruction.  We  present  them 
with  a  new  weekly  periodical,  which  shall  stand  forth  among 
them  a  true  Christian  Freeman^  and  a  good  Family  Visiter.  May 
God  aid  and  bless  us  in  our  long  contemplated  and  arduous 
undertaking. 

*'  Yes,  reader,  this  is  a  long  contemplated  undertaking.  In 
the  service  of  a  public  Temperance  Agency  for  the  last  twc^ 
years  and  a  half,  we  have  been  led  to  observe  and  ponder  many 
circumstances  which  have  impressed  us  strongly  with  the  need 
of  such  a  publication  as  this  is  designed  to  be ;  a  publication 
working  in  the  same  gospel  field  with  many  others,  yet  differing 
in  its  plan  of  operation  from  all  other  periodicals,  and  especially 
from  all  that  are  published  in  this  part  of  New  England. 

"  When  we  engaged  as  a  public  lecturer  for  the  Middlesex 
County  Temperance  Society,  it  was  predicted  by  some  of  our 


316  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBJi,    D.D. 

kind  and  well  beloved  brethren,  that  this  service  would  diminish 
our  interest  in  the  gospel,  and  in  the  work  of  the  Christian  min- 
istry. We  then  felt  that  they  knew  not  what  tliey  said  ;  and  now 
we  know  it.  The  more  the  servant  of  Christ  imitates  his  Master 
in  going  about,  observing  the  blindness,  the  wants,  and  the  suf- 
ferings of  mankind,  and  doing  good  as  opportunity  offers,  the 
more  he  will  feel  engaged  in  all  those  great  and  good  principles 
of  truth,  which  shall  promote  virtue  and  happiness. 

"  Of  these  principles  the  gospel  stands  pre-eminent.  Indeed 
the  Christian  religion  comprises  all  that  is  excellent  in  faith  and 
IDractice.  Its  faith,  the  faith  which  rests  in  the  infinite  wisdom, 
goodness,  and  power  of  God,  and  nourishes  the  hope,  sweet, 
soul-satisfying  hope,  of  the  universal  emancipation  and  glory  of 
the  human  race  through  Jesus  Christ,  is  peculiarly  fitted  to 
elevate  and  reconcile  the  mind  to  God,  and  to  produce  the  love 
of  God  and  holiness.  If  we  forget  this  faith,  or  neglect  to 
propagate  and  defend  it,  let  our  right  hand  forget  its  cunning. 
It  shall  be  borne  by  this  Family  Visiter  to  the  abodes  of  all  our 
readers,  and  applied  in  its  adaptedness  to  work  the  reconcilia- 
tion and  comfort  of  the  mind  under  every  earthly  circumstance. 

"But  the  Christian  religion  does  not  alone  apply  to  our  hope 
for  ourselves,  and  others,  beyond  the  grave.  It  applies  to  the 
infinite  variety  of  duties  and  interests  of  our  present  diversified 
relations.  And  to  the  nature  of  some  of  these  relations,  and  the 
manner  of  some  of  these  interests,  and  the  verity  of  some  of 
these  duties,  the  prejudices,  passions,  and  supposed  interests  of 
many  may  blind  them,  while  they  can  stoutly  argue,  and  may 
even  quite  feelingly  believe,  the  leading  doctrines  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith.  And  in  respect  to  this  point,  our  travels  and  labors 
have  brought  us  in  the  way  of  such  observation,  as  has  often  told 
us  of  the  need  of  a  public  journal,  which  should  go  forth  as  a 
Christian  Freeman,  laboring  not  only  to  convert  unbelievers,  but 
also  to  remove  remaining  darkness  from  the  minds  of  believers, 
in  any  and  every  case  where  they  are  blindly  or  inconsiderately 
giving  their  influence  to  perpetuate  the  causes  of  reigning  evils. 

"  '  Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free,' 
is  the  language  of  the  Saviour.  It  will  make  us  not  only  free 
from  the  slavish  fear  of  human  creeds,  but  free  also  to  do  good. 
'  To  do  good  and  to  communicate,  forget  not,'  is  the  admonition 
of  the  Christian  apostle.    If  we  may  excuse  ourselves  from  this 


*  THE   MEMOIR.  3^17 

duty  in  one  plain  obvious  case,  we  may  in  another,  and  have  no 
fixed  principle  of  moral  right.  If  we  see  a  custom,  a  mode  of 
action  prevailing,  which  is  spreading  crime,  poverty  and  wretch- 
edness around,  and  stands  as  a  cruel  Tysiplione,  threatening  to 
be  the  tormentor  of  our  own  children,  and  we  may  withhold  all 
effort  to  reform  such  custom,  because  the  prejudices  of  some  of 
our  brethren  are  against  the  discussion  of  the  subject,  then  we 
may  see  false  religious  doctrines  crushing  and  stretching  thou- 
sands of  minds  upon  the  torture  rack,  and  withhold  all  effort  to 
remove  the  cause  of  this  misery  by  the  ministry  of  truth,  because 
the  prejudices  of  some  will  cling  to  their  errors.  The  Univer- 
salist  who  will  neglect,  in  any  obvious  case,  *  to  do  good  and  to 
communicate,'  because  certain  others  see  not  eye  to  eye  with 
him,  gives  practical  sanction  to  the  precise  principle  of  action 
which  he  so  loudly  denounces  in  others,  who  make  it  their  rule 
in  matters  of  religious  faith  to  ask,  not  'what  is  truth?'  but 
'  what  will  secure  me  favor  with  the  popular  voice  ? ' 

"But  our  brother  tells  us  that  he  should  like  the  plan  of  our 
Family  Visiter,  if  we  would  exclude  all  matter  touching  the 
subject  of  slavery.  Then  he  would  have  us  doff  our  caption, 
'  Christian  Freeman.''  God  forbid  that  we  should  do  it.  For  us 
to  preach,  and  pray,  and  sing  praises  to  God,  upon  the  theme  of 
that  blessed  gospel  which  we  prize  above  earthly  riches,  the 
gospel  of  Him  who  lived,  and  labored,  and  died,  and  reigns  on 
high  for  all, —  for  Jews  and  barbarians,  bond  and  free  ;  the  gos- 
pel which  teaches  us  that  God  is  the  Father  of  all,  and  that  all 
we  are  brethren  ;  and  yet  for  us  at  the  same  time  to  look  upon  a 
portion  of  our  brethren,  in  our  own  country,  held  as  cattle,  as 
goods  and  chattels,  the  property  of  others,  where  knowledge  is 
danger,  and  ignorance  is  tlie  only  hope  of  safety,  —  and  here  to 
insist  that  not  a  word  must  be  spoken,  not  a  thought  indulged, 
not  an  inquiry  breathed,  whether  some  means  may  not  be 
devised,  some  moral  influence  put  in  motion,  which  shall  melior- 
ate the  condition  of  these  poor,  unfortunate,  unhumanized  fel- 
low beings, —  this  does  indeed  to  us  seem  monstrous.  If  our 
brother  can  persevere  in  his  efforts  to  smother  investigation,  and 
to  foster  slavery  as  an  undisturbed  institution,  until  it  shall  break 
forth  in  horrible  destruction  upon  its  proprietors,  with  their  wives 
and  innocent  little  ones,  —  and  yet  feel  that  he  can  lift  up  holy 
27* 


318  JiEF.    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

hands,  and  pray  God  to  prosper  him  in  tliesc  efforts,  he  is  to  us 
an  in  solvable  enigma. 

*'  But  when  we  speak  of  Christian  freedom,  none  will  take  us 
to  mean  by  freedom ,  licentiousness  or  raslmess.  We  look  with 
no  favor  upon  the  habit  of  one's  rushing  forth  like  Jehu  to  show 
his  zeal  for  the  Lord.  We  would  not  hastily  catch  up  any  spec- 
ulation which  might  come  at  hand  in  this  age  of  invention,  and 
blaze  out  in  censoriousness  and  denunciation  against  those  who 
run  not  so  fast,  nor  so  heedlessly.  Nor  would  we  be  regardless 
of  time,  and  occasion,  and  means,  for  promoting  what  we  con- 
scientiously deem  it  our  duty  to  promote  as  truth,  upon  long  and 
mature  investigation.  But  we  would,  and  we  must,  calmly, 
dispassionately,  and  fearlessly  investigate,  —  'prove  all  things, 
and  hold  fast  that  which  is  good.'  And  while  we  would  delib- 
erately inquire  for  the  best  mode  of  communication,  we  must 
'  not  forget  to  do  good,  and  to  communicate.'  And  he  who 
would  deprive  us  of  the  privilege  of  devoting  kind,  faithful  labor 
to  the  elevation  of  public  sentiment  on  the  subject  of  the  rights 
of  man  on  the  one  side,  and  the  duty  of  man  on  the  other,  is 
about  the  same  work  that  certain  in  all  ages  have  been  engaged 
in,  who  have  striven  to  suppress  inquiry,  and  stay  the  progress  of 
light.  Will  he  say  that  the  investigation  of  this  subject  will  do 
harm,  by  creating  divisions,  and  breaking  friendships  ?  They 
who,  b}^  any  means,  by  menace,  denunciation,  excommunication, 
prison  or  gibbet,  have  opposed  inquir}^,  have  urged  the  same  plea. 
The  obnoxious  investigation  will  break  up  order,  and  injure 
society,  and  therefore  it  must  be  put  down. 

"  If  we  and  our  brother  agree  on  the  leading  principles  of  the 
Christian  faith,  and  yet  differ  on  the  propriety  of  endeavoring  to 
bring  all  classes  of  our  brethren  into  a  condition  in  which  they 
may  become  sharers  in  the  liberty  of  the  children  of  God  —  then 
on  this  latter  subject  we  are  already  divided  in  opinion.  Shall 
we,  therefore,  be  divided  in  respect  to  those  matters  wherein  w^e 
agree?  If  so,  the  division  must  be  by  him.  We  will  go  with 
him  as  a  faithful  workfellow,  in  all  those  good  matters  where- 
upon we  can  work  together,  and  if  he  will  turn  off,  let  him  not 
charge  us  with  making  division.  But  it  would  be  pleasant  to  be 
agreed  in  all  things.  How  then  shall  this  agreement  be  brought 
about  .f'  By  either  brother's  requiring  the  other  to  suppress 
investigation,  sacrifice  his  conscience,  and  hide  his  light,  or  his 


THE  MEMOIR.  319 

supposed  light,  under  a  bushel  ?  Never.  We  must  be  kindly- 
disposed  towards  each  other,  respect  each  other's  right  of  con- 
science, and  reason  together.  If  we  are  right,  and  our  brother 
is  wrong,  we  want  candid  investigation,  that  he  may  agree  with 
us.  If  he  is  right,  and  we  are  wrong,  we  need  investigation, 
that  his  better  reasons  may  bring  us  into  agreement  with  him. 
Come,  let  us  be,  not  lawless  disorganizers,  but  Christian  free- 
men. 

"But  our  brother  asks  us  what  we  in  the  non-slaveholding 
States  can  do  to  promote  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  South. 
We  are  glad  that  he  has  put  this  question ;  for  hitherto  he  has 
objected  to  our  meddling  with  this  subject.  But  now,  as  he 
would  not  be  so  unfair  as  to  ask  us  a  question  he  would  not  per- 
mit us  to  answer,  we  must  conclude  that  he  has  come  to  regard 
and  treat  this  subject  as  worthy  of  consideration.  And  if  he 
will  read  our  humble  sheet  from  weektoweek,  we  will  endeavor 
to  give  him  some  light  on  this,  together  with  other  important 
topics. 

"In  concluding  this  protracted  Address,  we  will  add,  in 
respect  to  the  need  of  a  paper  on  the  plan  here  presented,  that 
we  have  believed  that  it  will  be  useful,  in  the  present  advanced 
state  of  our  denomination,  to  issue  a  family  pa^^er  which  shall 
present  from  week  to  week,  with  a  portion  of  religious  reading, 
the  most  essential  news  of  the  day,  and  interesting  and  instruc- 
tive matter  on  a  variety  of  important  subjects.  We  will  en- 
deavor, by  our  faithful  diligence  and  attention,  to  deserve  a 
reasonable  share  of  the  i)ubiic  patronage." 

And  after  the  plan  here  laid  down  Mr.  Cobb  pursued  his 
labors.  He  had  started  his  paper  with  especial  objects  in 
view ;  he  had  carefully  considered  the  end  he  aimed  at ; 
and  in  his  after  course  there  was  no  deviation.  There  is 
no  need  that  I  should  burden  these  pages  with  reproduc- 
tions of  what  he  wrote  and  printed  upon  the  various  topics 
that  claimed  his  particular  attention  ;  but  before  closing 
this  chapter  I  must  give  one  extract  which  shows  in  a  brief 
space  how  he  was  inclined  to  treat  the  subject  of  Slavery  ; 
and  at  this  late  day,  when  the  positions  which  he  then 


320  JIEV.    STLVANUS     COBB.    D.D. 

assumed  are  conceded  b}"  every  right-thinking  man  and  true 
lover  of  his  country,  it  seems  surprising  that  enlightened 
Christian  teachers  could  then  have  taken  exceptions  to 
them. 

This  is  the  article  to  which  I  refer,  published  in  the  sec- 
ond number  of  his  paper  : 

*' WHAT  CAN  WE  DO? 

**  The  question  is  often  gravely  asked,  *  What  can  we,  in  the 
Korth,  do  towards  the  abolition  of  Slavery  in  the  South  ? '  I 
will  answer  so  far,  at  the  present  time,  as  to  mention  two  things 
which  we  can  and  ought  to  do,  by  a  candid  and  manly  discus- 
sion ;  the  first  relating  to  the  North,  and  the  second  to  the  South. 
The  first  thing  to  be  done,  and  that  relating  to  the  North,  is,  to 
vindicate  and  establish  the  principle  of  free  discussion,  and  de- 
liver a  large  portion  of  the  community  from  the  slavish  fear  of 
looking  at  a  great  moral  subject.  When  I  look  at  an  evil  in  our 
country,  in  view  of  which  one  of  the  greatest  of  southern  patriots 
has  been  moved  by  the  spirit  of  prophecy  to  exclaim,  '  I  tremble 
for  my  country,  wdien  I  reflect  that  God  is  just,'  —  and  when, 
npon  some  good  citizens  proposing  to  deliberate  ways  and  means 
to  save  the  country,  ere  it  be  too  late,  from  a  judgment  more 
intolerable  than  that  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  I  see  the  commu- 
nity up  in  arms  to  suppress  all  investigation  touching  the  sub- 
ject, I  feel  ashamed  for  my  native  and  beloved  New  England. 
And  I  view  the  restoration  to  the  people,  of  this  one  principle  — 
the  principle  of  free,  open,  frank,  ingenuous,  fearless,  manly, 
Christian  investigation,  of  this,  and  all  subjects  involving  the 
rights,  duties,  interests  and  privileges  of  mankind, — worth  a 
firm  persevering  labor  to  attain  it.  Let  this  great  principle  be, 
by  all,  conceded,  —  and  then,  though  there  may  yet  be  difference 
of  opinion  on  the  question  of  ways  and  means,  there  will  be 
that  general  good  feeling,  that  harmony  of  spirit  in  the  commu- 
nity, which  can  never  be  brought  about  by  the  childish  cries  of 
those  who  are  feeding  the  feverish  spirit  of  division,  by  essaying 
to  stop  discussion  with  forever  sounding  upon  the/ear  of  divisions  ! 
Divisions !  No  Christian  should  ever  speak,  write,  or  print  a 
word,  which  shall  express  the  thought  of  a  possibility  of  division 


THE   MEMOIR.  321 

among  Christians,  (a  division  as  to  Christian  union,  I  mean)  by 
the  free  candid  discussion  of  any  subject  touching  moral  j^rinci- 
ples.  If  it  be  said  that  all  discussion  on  the  subject  of  slavery 
has  not  been  candid,  I  answer,  neither  has  all  discussion  on  relig- 
ion, or  any  other  subject,  been  candid.  We  are  never  to  con- 
demn a  good  cause  for  the  errors  of  some  of  its  friends. 

"In  the  second  place,  I  will  say  a  word  on  the  good  which 
we,  in  the  North,  may  do  for  the  South.  We  may  exert  a  good 
healthful  moral  influence.  The  community  of  mind  is  like  the 
congregated  waters  ;  one  part  bears,  and  unceasingly  bears  upon 
another.  Moral  corruption  cannot  always  hold  its  place  in  the 
midst  of  surrounding  moral  light,  and  pure  elevated  moral  sen- 
timent. 

"The  owners  of  slaves  are  objects  of  our  commiseration; 
their  case  demands  the  exercise  of  charity.  They  are  blinded 
by  supposed,  but  mistaken  interest,  as  keepers  of  dram-shops 
have  been,  in  this  section.  But,  after  all,  if  we  will  be  their 
true  friends,  wliile  we  exercise  that  charity  wiiich  '  suffereth 
long  and  is  kind,'  we  must  remember  that  the  same  charity 
'  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth.'  And  if 
such  were  the  elevated  tone  of  moral  sentiment  in  the  non-slave- 
holding  States,  that  when  their  southern  brethren  step  within 
their  borders,  they  should  feel  that  they  breathe  an  atmosj^here 
in  which  the  very  principles  of  slavery  must  blight  and  die,  as 
the  accursed  fig-tree  by  the  word  of  Jesus,  this  state  of  public 
sentiment  with  us  would,  in  spite  of  all  menacing  and  scoldino-, 
gradually  move  upon  them  to  pass  the  inquiry  around,  *  What 
shall  we  do  to  raise  ourselves  to  our  proper  moral  elevation  ? 
What  shall  we  do  to  be  saved  ! '  But  when  they  feel  that  the 
institution  of  slavery  is  approved  and  cherished  by  the  popular 
sentiment  of  the  whole  country,  this  circumstance  constitutes  an 
additional  bond  to  hold  the  slave  in  his  chains,  and  the  iliaster  in 
his  error. 

"  Will  it  be  said  that  no  reasonable  man  approves  the  princi- 
13le  of  slavery,  —  that  all  regard  it  a  moral  and  political  evil, 
but  we  must  let  it  alone  —  we  can  do  nothing  for  the  removal  of 
the  evil?  This  is  not  the  language  of  the  enlightened  Christian 
philanthropist.  When  Jesus  came  into  the  world,  and  saw  that 
darkness  covered  the  earth,  and  gross  darkness  the  people,  that 
all  were  as  lost  sheep,  did  he  say,  *  Let  them  alone ;  nothing 


322  EEV.    SJLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

can  be  tlone  ? '  No ;  he  went  at  work,  overcoming  darkness 
with  liglit,  and  evil  witli  good,  lie  preaclied  deliverance  to  the 
eaiJtives,  and  the  recovery  of  sight  to  the  blind.  Will  it  be  said 
that  the  captives  whom  the  gospel  of  Jesus  delivers,  are  captives 
in  spiritual  darkness  and  death  ?  Be  it  so  :  and  cannot  Christ's 
disciples,  in  a  country  called  a  Christian  country,  making  their 
own  laws,  and  managing  their  own  institutions  —  can  they  not 
do  something  by  the  way  of  reforming  an  institution  of  their 
own,  which  must,  as  long  as  it  continues,  hold  locked  in  dark- 
ness the  minds  of  millions,  while  it  robs  them  of  all  that- belongs 
to  the  moral  intellectual  man  ?  But  what  can  we  do  ?  We  can 
do  our  part  towards  keeping  in  motion  a  kindly,  yet  mighty 
moral  influence,  which  shall  by  and  by  move  the  whole  South  to 
inquire.  What  shall  loe  do?  Then,  the  work  will  be  done  — 
America  shall  stand  redeemed,  saved,  glorified.'" 

Such  were  his  ideas  of  Freedom,  and  such  his  concep- 
tions of  the  duty  of  the  true  Christian  teacher ;  and  the 
reader  can  now  understand  why  he  chose  to  denominate  his 
hebdomadal  Family  Visiter  a  "  Christian  Freeman." 


THE   MEMOIR,  323 


CHAPTER  III. 


Opposition,  —  "  Uniyersalist  Union,"  —  "  Trumpet,"  — 
A  Pair  of  Letters. 

An  old  writer  once  said,  —  "If  yon  never  tell  the  truth, 
and  are  carefnl  that  yowv  falsehood  falls  upon  nobody's 
head,  you  will  never  make  an  enemy."  Another  writer, 
with  something  more  of  justness,  says,  —  "  He  who  would 
make  no  enemies  must  never  seek  to  lead  society  out  from 
old  beaten  tracks."  It  is  a  fact,  apparent  in  the  life  of 
every  man  who  has  sought  to  work  great  reforms  in  Society, 
that  he  who  steps  on  in  advance  of  his  companions  as  a 
pioneer  will  be  denounced  by  those  who  have  not  the  cour- 
age or  the  will  to  walk  b}^  his  side.  In  the  first  place,  men 
do  not  like  that  another  should  discover  and  point  out  to 
them  lines  of  duty  ;  and  still  less  do  thej^  like  to  follow  in 
another's  lead.  And  then  men  do  not  like  to  be  disturbed 
from  quiet  repose  upon  the  downy  beds  of  old  established 
customs.  And,  furthermore,  if  some  one  of  their  number, 
more  bold  and  uncompromising  than  his  fellows,  arises  and 
girds  on  his  armor,  and  calls  upon  them  to  join  him  in  a 
crusade  which  is  to  them  distasteful,  the  spirit  of  their  op- 
position will  be  toned  by  the  nature  of  the  thing  aimed  at. 
If  the  proposed  crusade  is  simply  chimerical,  they  will  rest 
perfectly  easy  to  let  their  friend  push  on,  and  see  his  cru- 
sade fail  from  its  own  inertia ;  but  if  tliere  is  justness  and 
right  in  the  cause,  and  a  spirit  of  conservatism  holds  them 


324  JREr.    SYLVAN  us     COBB,    D.D. 

back,  they  will  be  eager  and  bitter  in  their  opposition  just 
as  their  brother's  purpose  takes  to  itself  power  and  signifi- 
cance from  its  heaven-born  truth  and  equitableness. 

The  man  w^ho,  in  writing  a  book,  should  allow  the  fear 
of  what  critics  might  say  to  hold  back  his  pen,  would  be 
doing  injustice  to  his  subject,  and  treating  the  public  un- 
fairly. All  right-thinking  men  can  understand  and  appre- 
ciate the  many  delicate  points  which  the  biographer  is  called 
upon  to  handle,  and  they  would  prefer  that  those  things 
which  properly  belong  to  the  life-record  should  be  presented 
in  the  most  direct  and  straightforward  manner.  First  we 
are  to  decide  what  ought  to  be  made  known  —  what  would 
be  interesting  and  instructive  to  the  public — and  then 
determine  how  the  matter  can  be  best  communicated. 

Mr.  Cobb  was  most  emphatically  a  Reformer,  —  and  an 
ardent  and  zealous  one, — but  I  think  I  may  safely  say 
that  he  made  no  enemies.  That  is,  —  between  him  and  his 
opponents  there  never  arose  anything  approaching  in  the 
least  to  personal  enmity.  This  result  was  due  to  two 
causes  :  First,  —  He  was  so  generous  and  true-hearted  in 
his  friendships,  and  his  love  and  esteem  for  his  brethren 
everywhere  were  so  independent  of  "  small  personalities," 
that  he  was  very  slow  to  recognize  ill-feeling  in  those  whom 
he  counted  among  his  friends.  Second,  —  In  his  sentences 
of  utmost  severity  he  never  descended  to  anything  like 
slang,  and  never  made  use  of  opprobrious  epithets  ;  always 
distinguishing  between  a  wrong  principle  and  the  person 
who  advocated  it,  and  ever  ready  to  make  the  amende  hon- 
or able  if  he  had  inadvertantly  done  a  wrong  to  any  oppo- 
nent. In  fact,  Mr.  Cobb's  bitterest  opponents  —  those  who 
gave  him  the  most  trouble  of  thought  and  reflection  —  were 
warm  personal  friends  —  friends  who  gave  him  the  warm 
grasp  when  they  met  him,  and  who  loved  to  labor  with  him 


THE  MEMOIR.  325 

in  the  work  of  spreading  abroad  a  knowledge  of  the  cliar- 
acter  and  purposes  of  God  as  he  and  they  understood  them. 

We  have  now  to  deal  with  Mr.  Cobb's  labor  in  carrying- 
on  the  Christian  Freeman,  and  have  come  to  that  point 
where  it  is  necessary  to  present  some  of  the  opposition  he 
met  with  ;  and  in  doing  this  let  it  be  understood  that  I  do 
not  select  these  as  individual  cases,  but  as  cases  represent- 
ative of  the  general  tone  and  character  of  the  opposition 
that  came  from  all  quarters.  God  forbid  that  I  should 
rake  up  old  "hatchets  that  had  been  long  buried,"  or  that 
I  should  present  to  the  public  "  old  stories  of  strife  long- 
forgotten."  I  simply  turn  to  the  files  of  the  early  numbers 
of  the  paper  to  find  out  how  the  publisher  progressed  with 
his  work ;  how  his  friends  in  like  business  received  his 
"  bantling ;  "  and  how  he  met  their  words  of  commenda- 
tion and  of  opposition. 

The  first  notice  which  we  find  of  the  new  paper  was  in 
the  "  Universalist  Union,''  published  in  New  York,  by  Rev. 
P.  Price.  In  his  issue  of  March  9th,  before  the  appearance 
of  the  Freeman,  he  offers  some  strictures  on  the  Prospectus, 
and  after  expressing  regret  to  find  that  a  paper  is  coming 
forth  on  the  i^lan  proposed,  he  says,  — 

"  Again,  the  spirit  and  manner  in  which  this  new  candidate  for 
jjublic  favor  puts  forth  its  claims,  is  exceptionable  —  in  one 
respect,  at  least,  if  we  do  not  greatly  misapprehend  its  language, 
it  is  deserving  of  direct  rebuke." 

Br.  Price  then  proceeds  to  quote  from  the  Prospectus  Mr. 
Cobb's  remarks  touching  the  need  of  such  a  paper  as  he 
proposed  to  publish,  and  goes  on  to  remark,  — 

"  It  bids  the  periodicals  already  in  the  field,  it  is  true,  *  God- 
speed in  their  Christian  labors,  as  far  as  they  see  Jit  to  carry  them  /' 
But  this  is  designed  to  '  supply  a  desideratum '  in  the  denomina- 
tion !     It  will  not  only  contend  *  earnestly  for  the  faith  once 
28 


326  nEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

delivered  to  the  saints,'  but  it  *  shall  furthermore  earry  out  [and 
by  implication,  others  do  not,]  the  principles  of  this  faith  in 
their  bearing  upon  the  interests  and  duties  of  all  our  relations, 
in  the  family,  in  society,  in  the  state,  and  in  the  world  ! ! '  We 
had  fondly  thought  that  our  periodicals  had  long  and  faithfully 
labored  to  this  end  —  that  they  had  earnestly  and  perseveringly 

*  carried  out '  the  principles  of  our  faith,  and  that  they  were  still 
so  engaged.  But  either  the  above  is  an  unjust  insinuation,  or 
we  have  been  sadly  mistaken." 

As  Mr.  Cobb's  reply  to  these  strictures  makes  answer  to 
a  large  number  of  correspondents  who  opposed  his  plan  in 
the  same  spirit,  I  have  thought  proper  to  copy  the  most 
important  portions  of  it  here.     It  is  as  follows  :  — 

*'  Surely  Br.  Price  forgets  himself.  He  had  just  said,  '  Make 
men  good  Universalists,  and  we  shall  have  little  to  fear  from 
slavery.'  This  is  as  much  as  to  say  tliat  the  spirit  of  Universal- 
ism  is  oj^posed  to  slavery,  and  must  exert  an  influence  to  the 
doing   away  of  the  evil.     This,  then,  is   one   of  the   practical 

♦  bearings '  of  the  principles  of  our  faith,  according  to  Br.  P.'s 
own  showing.  And  does  he  carry  out  these  principles  in  this 
practical  bearing  ?  He  knows  that  he  does  not.  And  more  than 
this,  he  would  strangle  in  its  birth  our  Christian  Freeman,  to  pre- 
vent any  attempt  in  '  our  denomination '  to  show  and  carry  out 
our  religious  principles  in  this  acknowledged  bearing.  Yet  we 
have  not  cast  upon  Br.  P.  any  censure  for  his  not  carrying  out 
the  principles  of  our  faith,  and  urging  them  in  this  i^ractical 
bearing.  We  bade  him,  and  others,  '  God-speed  in  their  Chris- 
tian labors,  as  far  as  they  see  fit  to  carry  them.'  But  he  tells  us 
that  he  cannot  '  return  the  compliment.'  He  even  pays  us  with 
'  direct  rebuke,'  for  presuming  ourself  to  go  the  step  which  he 
has  not  seen  fit  to  take,  that  we  may  promote  and  cultivate  the 
spirit  of  our  faith,  to  have  it  felt  and  understood  in  the  form  in 
which  he  acknowledges  it  must  exert  itself  in  order  to  make  a 
good  Universalist ! 

"  Br.  P.  proceeds  to  comment  on  the  clause  in  our  Prospectus 
where  we  say,  '  We  have  papers  devoted  to  the  dissemination 
of  our  religious  views,  and  ably  conducted.     But  their  editors 


THE   MEMOIR.  327 

choose  so  to  conduct  them  as  to  gam  and  continue  their  admis- 
sion, bearing  our  doctrines  of  faith,  into  those  States  and  fami- 
ilies  whose  prejudices  would  exclude  them  if  they  devoted 
earnest  and  persevering  labor  to  the  causes  of  Temperance  and 
Universal  Freedom.'  This  he  construes  as  '  plainly  insinuating, 
that  the  conductors  of  our  periodicals  adopt  a  temporizing  pol- 
icy,"* —  and  that  they  are  governed  by  interest  rather  than  their 
convictions  of  duty.' 

"But  we  hope  our  brother  has  by  this  time  gotten  so  well 
over  his  bewildering  affright,  that  he  may  bear  the  inquiry, 
*  Understandest  thou  what  thou  readest.^'  We  expressly  gave 
it  as  the  motive  of  our  editors,  to  '  hear  our  doctrines  of  faith  into 
those  States  and  families,'  &c.  We  know  not  but  some  of  those 
editors  are  pro-slavery  men.  But  we  did  not  deem  it  important 
in  a  Prospectus,  to  discriminate.  But  we  thought,  and  still 
think,  that  some  of  our  editors  who  are  anti-slavery  men,  choose 
to  exclude  from  their  columns  the  discussion  of  this  question,- 
believing  that  it  would  exclude  them  from  many  fiimilies,  who 
would  thus  be  deprived,  not  only  of  the  discussions  on  this 
moral  cause,  but  also  of  all  the  gosjDcl  instructions  which  they 
might  otherwise  have  received.  If  our  view,  which  is  definitely 
expressed  in  the  Prospectus,  is  correct,  they  '  choose '  the  course 
wiiich  they  adopt,  because  they  believe  they  may  thus  accom- 
plish the  most  good.  With  this  view  we  could  not  censure 
them.  But  we  believed  that  we  could  do  the  most  good,  in  the 
present  state  of  our  denomination,  and  of  the  country,  by  means 
of  a  publication  on  the  plan  we  have  adopted,  —  and  that  the 
wants  of  the  community  require  one  such  paper,  to  co-operate, 
in  Christian  love,  with  those  before  in  the  field. 

*'  And  here  too  our  brother  commits  himself.  He  would  have 
it  imderstood  that  he  cares  not  for  the  prejudices  of  States  or 
families,  nor  for  the  exclusion  or  rejection  of  our  journals  from 
them,  so  as  to  be  influenced  thereby  in  his  conduct.  Yet  he  is 
moved  to  express  regret  that  a  certain  great  moral  question 
should  be  introduced  into  our  denomination;  —  and  why.?*  If 
all  States  and  families  were  in  a  mood  kindly  to  receive  and  con- 
sider this  question,  would  he  have  this  fearful  apprehension 
from  its  being  discussed,  and  show  such  determined  opposition 
to  it  ?  We  think  not.  What  does  he  fear  ?  Does  he  fear  that 
they  who  have  a  sufiiciency  of  the  right  spirit  to  make  them 


328  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

'  good  Universalists,'  will  be  induced  to  abandon  our  faith  and 
our  fellowship,  should  some  of  us  now  and  then  say  a  word 
about  '  undoing  the  heavy  burdens,  and  letting  the  oppressed  go 
free  ? '  No ;  his  fear  is,  that  we  have  some  among  us  whose 
love  of  the  gospel  is  so  weak,  and  whose  prejudiee  against  this 
moral  cause  is  so  strong,  that  if  we  broach  this  subject,  not  only 
will  our  papers  be  excluded  from  their  houses,  but  we  too  from 
their  fellowship,  and  thus  we  shall  have  '  dissensions  within.' 

"  But  he  will  say  that  he  deems  it  his  duty,  with  reference  to 
the  greatest  good,  to  thus  regard  the  prejudice  of  a  portion  of 
the  community.  Very  well.  All  this  good  motive  we  have 
accorded  to  him,  and  to  others,  from  the  beginning;  nor  can  any 
language  we  have  used  be  so  distorted  as  to  speak  a  different 
sentiment.  Go  on,  brother,  doing  good  as  seemeth  thee  best, 
and  accord  to  thy  brethren  the  same  great  privilege. 

*'In  closing  these  remarks,  we  beg  leave  to  assure  the  pro- 
prietor of  the  '  Union,'  that  the  investigation  of  any  question 
touching  the  improvement  and  welfare  of  mankind,  is  not  to  the 
gospel  as  a  coal  of  fire  to  a  cask  of  powder.  The  gospel  is  a 
great  system  of  universal  benevolence,  whose  spirit  is  truth,  and 
investigation  the  food  of  it.  Fear  not,  neither  be  dismayed. 
Christians  should  have  no  dread  of  light." 

Mr.  Cobb  made  it  a  point,  and  rule  of  action,  to  avoid  as 
far  as  possible  all  collision  and  fault-finding  with  his  brother 
editors  ;  he  was  desirous  to  interchange  with  them  kind 
oflSces,  and  to  "  encourage  them  in  well-doing."  lie  re- 
solved that  he  would  not  suffer  himself  to  be  drawn  into 
any  rencounter,  "  except,"  as  he  expressed  it  in  his  paper, 
on  the  occasion  of  a  notice  of  an  attack  which  had  been 
made  upon  him,  "  we  feel  called  upon,  by  a  sense  of  duty 
to  ourself,  and  to  the  community  whose  good  we  hope  to 
serve,  to  act  in  self-defence.  And,"  he  adds,  "  even  this 
duty  is  to  us  so  unpleasant  that  we  hope  to  be  seldom 
obliged  to  discharge  it." 

"We  know  that  many  men  make  it  a  point  thus  to  express 
sorrow  on  the  eve  of  a  personal  rencounter  who  do  not  feel 


THE   MEMOIR.  329 

what  they  speak  ;  but  I  know  that  Mr.  Cobb  instiuctively 
shrank  from  the  notice  of  things  that  were  spoken  and 
written  against  him  ;  and  unless  a  direct  attack  was  made 
upon  him,  involving  some  of  those  principles  of  action 
which  he  had  made  his  rule  in  the  conducting  of  his  publi- 
cation, he  chose  to  let  them  pass  unnoticed.  Words  from 
Mr.  Cobb's  pen,  as  from  his  lips,  meant  all  they  uttered. 
He  was  never  flowery  in  his  style,  so  he  used  no  redundant 
words  in  that  manner ;  he  never  descended  to  tergiversa- 
tion, so  he  found  no  need  of  useless  language  here  ;  but 
what  he  had  to  say  he  said  in  the  most  direct  manner  pos- 
sible, resting  always  under  the  solemn  conviction  that  duty 
should  guide  his  pen  as  it  should  guide  his  steps  in  his 
daily  walks  before  his  God  and  his  fellowmen. 

The  article  which  has  been  noticed  from  the  "  Univer- 
salist  Union  "  was  written  upon  the  appearance  of  the  Pros- 
pectus ;  but  upon  the  appearance  of  the  first  number  of 
the  paper  the  expression  of  opinion  concerning  the  merits 
of  the  publication  was  more  general.  The  "  Trumpet^'' 
published  by  Br.  Thomas  Whittemore,  in  Boston,  was  at 
that  time  the  leading  paper  in  the  denomination,  and 
wielded  vast  influence.  It  was  a  firm  and  staunch  sup- 
porter of  the  Universalist  faith,  and  its  editor  was  one  of 
the  most  able  and  industrious  theological  writers  that  ever 
graced  the  editorial  chair.  Not  only  did  Mr.  Whittemore 
gain  respectful  attention  to  his  paper  by  his  own  well- 
earned  popularity  as  a  writer  and  preacher,  and  by  his  un- 
surpassed qualities  as  a  warm-hearted  friend  and  genial 
companion ;  but  the  ablest  of  our  clergymen  throughout 
the  country  had  made  his  paper  the  vehicle  through  which 
to  communicate  their  best  thoughts  to  the  public  ;  all  of 
which  had  tended  to  give  that  paper  a  wider  circulation 
28* 


330  HEF.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

than  was  enjoyed  by  any  other  of  our  denominational  pub- 
lications. 

It  was  natural  that  Mr.  Cobb  should  look  somewhat 
anxiously  to  see  what  the  "  Trumpet''  would  have  to  say 
concerning  his  new  paper ;  and  when  he  had  seen,  he  was 
stirred  to  make  a  candid  repl}-.  The  "  Trumpet "  was  a 
representative  paper,  and  as  its  article  upon  the  "  Free- 
man "  reflected  the  opinions  and  feelings  of  a  large  class 
of  the  denomination,  both  ministers  and  laymen,  of  course 
Mr.  Cobb's  reply  thereto  was  a  fitting  response  to  that  whole 
school  of  opposition  ;  and  as  such  I  shall  give  it  here  in 
connexion  with  the  remarks  which  called  it  forth. 

In  the  first  place  Mr.  Whittemore  expresses  some  aston- 
ishment at  the  appearance  of  this  new  paper,  in  Massachu- 
setts. There  were  "  already  four''  Universalist  periodicals 
published  in  the  State,  and  where  could  be  the  room  or  the 
need  of  the  fifth?  To  this  Mr.  Cobb  simply  replies,  —  "  If 
there  had  been  ten  times  four,  and  there  are  moral  subjects 
that  a  portion  of  our  fraternity  believe  ought  to  be  pro- 
moted among  us,  and  by  us,  the  discussion  of  which  does 
not  come  within  the  design  of  either  of  these  publications, 
there  is  place  for  another." 

After  making  the  enumeration  above  alluded  to  the 
editor  of  the  "  Trumpet "  proceeds  as  follows  :  — 

*'  Br.  Cobb  has  judged  that  these  papers  do  not  supply  all  the 
wants  of  the  denomination,  and  he  has  therefore  struck  out  a 
plan  entirely  new.  He  intends  that  his  paper  shall  be,  1st  a 
Univeksalist  paper,  2d  a  Temperance  paper,  on  the  principle 
of  total  abstinence,  and  3d  an  Abolition  paper.  We  have  not 
one  word  to  say  about  his  plan ;  the  j^ublic  will  judge  of  that ; 
and  they  will  be  impartial  judges,  too.  The  course  pursued  by 
the  Trumpet  is  very  well  known.  It  has  been  under  trial  for 
eleven  years,  and  we  are  more  convinced  than  ever  of  the  pro- 
priety of  our  course.     The  Trumpet  is  designed  to  be  a  Univer- 


THE  MEMOIR.  331 

SALIST  paper.  Its  editor  has  no  desire,  and  certainly  no  design, 
to  mingle  in  any  of  the  party  strifes  of  the  day.  All  these  excit- 
ing topics,  on  which  the  community  is  now  becoming  more  and 
more  divided,  we  let  alone ;  being  perfectly  willing  to  be  a 
peace-maker  between  the  parties,  doing  all  in  our  power  to  heal 
their  divisions.  We  believe  Universalism  to  be  the  doctrine  of 
the  Bible,  beautiful  in  theory,  equally  beautiful  in  practice.  We 
established  the  Trumpet  to  defend  that  doctrine,  —  and  such, 
with  God's  blessing,  we  are  determined  to  do ;  exerting  all  our 
power  to  preserve  the  denomination  from  intestine  divisions  and 
war." 

I  well  remember  Mr.  Cobb's  surprise  upon  reading  the 
above,  and  how  deeply  his  feelings  were  stirred  as  he  com- 
mented upon  it.  There  was  no  unkindness  of  expression 
in  his  remarks  —  only  grief  and  wonder.  But  his  reply  in 
his  own  columns  gives  it  about  as  he  spoke  it.  Here  it 
is :  — 

"These remarks,  put  into  this  notice  of  the  Christian  Free- 
man, we  understand  to  be  designed  to  excite  the  apprehension 
that  this  paper  will  be  a  promoter  of  '  divisions  '  among  us,  even 
of  '  intestine  divisions  and  war.'  Speaking  of  the  subjects  of 
Temperance  and  Universal  Freedom,  the  editor  says  he  has  '  no 
desire,  and  certainly  no  design,  to  mingle  in  any  of  the  party 
strifes  of  the  day.'  And  is  it  possible  that  Br.  W.  is  willing  to 
take  advantage  of  the  too  popular  and  extremely  hurtful  preju- 
dice, and  to  confirm  and  deepen  that  prejudice,  against  the  dis- 
cussion of  a  great  moral  question  which  involves  the  dearest 
interests   of  the  community,  by  branding   such   discussion  as 

*  mingling  in  the  party  strifes  of  the  day '  ?    He  further  says  — 

•  All  these  exciting  topics,  on  which  the  community  is  now  be- 
coming more  and  more  divided,  we  let  alone.'  Is  this  our  old 
ardent  co-worker  in  the  Temperance  cause  ?  He  has  lectured, 
boldly  and  ably,  up  and  down  our  land,  in  Universalist  meeting- 
houses, and  others,  in  promotion  of  the  Temperance  cause ;  he 
has  been  punctual  in  his  attendance,  and  forward  and  interest- 
ing in  the  debates  of  Temperance  Conventions.  When  Univer-" 
salists  have  been  accused,  as  a  denomination,  of  hostility  to  the 


332  REV.     SYLVAXUS     COBB,    D.D. 

Temperance  reform,  and  other  great  and  good  moral  enter- 
prises of  the  day,  he  has  stepped  forth,  time  and  again,  in 
defence  of  the  order,  mentioning  the  fact  that  the  General  Con- 
vention of  Universalists  was  the  first  ecclesiastical  body  that 
passed  a  resolution  in  favor  of  the  Temperance  cause,  and  that 
most  of  our  clergymen,  and  a  large  portion  of  the  members  of 
our  societies,  were  the  open  active  friends  of  this  cause.  And 
now  will  he  calculate  to  prevent  divisions,  and  promote  the  rep- 
utation and  prosperity  of  our  order,  by  having  it  understood 
that  we  will  take  no  further  part  or  lot  in  the  great  and  glorious 
Temperance  enterprise,  nor  in  any  other  moral  cause  upon 
which  there  may,  for  a  time,  be  difference  of  opinion  ?  And  is 
this  the  way  to  be  *  a  peace-maker  between  the  parties,'  and  to 
*heal  divisions'  —  to  let  the  subject  alone'?  A  difference  of 
opinion  has  obtained  in  our  community  on  several  moral  sub- 
jects, which  all  acknowledge  to  be  important  subjects.  But  we 
desire  to  have  the  difference  removed,  and  all  to  be  of  one  mind. 
And  how  shall  this  be  effected  ?  By  a  refusal  to  speak,  on  the 
part  of  those  who  should  exert  an  influence  to  give  a  healthful 
tone  to  public  sentiment  ?  and  by  crying  out,  disturber  of  the 
peace!  maker  of  divisions!  against  every  one  who  kindly  and  re- 
spectfully calls  for  a  hearing  on  the  subject?  This,  with  the 
power  to  burn  and  hang,  was  once  the  way  to  presei-ve  union. 
But  now,  this  will  not  suffice.  When  we  see  the  community 
divided  in  opinion,  we  must  go  forth  with  the  affectionate  en- 
treaty, '  Come,  now,  and  let  us  reason  together.'  Let  us 
kindly  and  fraternally  investigate  — '  prove  all  things,'  and 
shortly  we  shall  see  '  eye  to  eye.'  In  the  mean  time,  we  will 
*  keep  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bonds  of  peace.' 

"Will  our  friend  say  that  he  is  not  opposed  to  the  free  and 
candid  discussion  of  these  moral  subjects,  only  he  does  not 
think  it  would  be  judicious  for  him  to  admit  such  discussion  into 
his  paper?  Well,  we  have  no  controversy  with  him  as  to  this. 
We  have  cast  no  censure  upon  any  of  our  editors  for  the  plans 
they  have  adopted  for  their  res]3ective  papers.  One,  as  the 
Expositor,  may  be  devoted  to  heavy  religious  essays  and  scrip- 
ture expositions,  excluding  the  light  and  controversial  reading. 
Another,  as  the  Ladies'  Repository,  may  be  specially  devoted 
to  the  wants  of  the  female  class  of  the  community ;  and  another, 
like  the  Trumpet,  may  be  devoted  to  the  doctrines  of  Universal- 


THE    MEMOIR. 


333 


ism,  and  the  affairs  of  our  societies,  without  extending  the 
practical  bearings  of  those  doctrines  to  any  of  the  great  moral 
enterprises  for  the  reform  of  injurious  popular  customs  or 
institutions  in  the  country.  Another,  like  our  own  humble  sheet, 
may  undertake  to  be  a  general  family  paper,  giving  religious 
essays,  doctrinal  and  practical,  —  literary  articles,  and  foreign 
and  domestic  news,  —  and  furthermore  laboring  to  show  the 
agency  which  the  gospel  should  and  must  have,  in  reforming 
the  evil  customs^  and  the  institutions  founded  in  wrong,  in  our 
country  and  the  world.  And  why  may  we  not  all  pursue  our 
respective  plans,  without  endeavoring  to  excite  unjust  prejudice 
against  each  other  ? 

"  But  as  to  the  making  of  divisions  by  discussing  those  moral 
questions,  if  our  brother  objects  not  to  the  discussion,  but  to  the 
mode  we  adopt,  it  being  in  a  public  journal,  rather  than  by 
lecturing  and  verbal  debate,  we  must  confess  surprise  at  his 
opinion.  We  are  sure  that  what  is  suitable  to  be  publicly  lec- 
tured and  debated,  is  suitable  to  be  printed  and  read.  And  men 
are  more  likely  to  write  deliberately  and  calmly,  than  to  s]Deak 
thus  in  extemporaneous  address,  or  in  the  warmth  of  oral  de- 
bate. We  are  prone  to  take  a  second  look  at  what  we  write  for 
the  press,  to  go  out  to  the  public  on  a  disputed  matter.  And 
persons  of  the  opposite  opinion,  when  they  sit  retired,  their 
natural  pride  of  opinion  free  from  the  fear  of  detection  by  the 
gazing  crowd  on  the  first  flash  of  conviction  in  the  countenance, 
can  read  and  weigh  argument  more  calmly  than  they  can  hear 
debate.  The  fear  of  harm  from  writing  on  a  subject  which  we 
would  fearlessly  discuss  in  public  addresses  and  debates,  is 
groundless  fear  indeed.  But  we  find  no  fault  with  another,  be- 
cause he  does  not  choose  to  discuss  all  the  subjects  which  we 
discuss,  in  a  public  journal.  *  Now  there  are  diversities  of 
gifts,  but  the  same  spirit.  And  there  are  differences  of  ad- 
ministration, but  the  same  Lord.  And  there  are  diversities  of 
operations,  but  it  is  the  same  God  which  worketh  all  in  all. 
But  the  manifestation  of  the  spirit  is  given  to  every  man  to 
PROFIT  WITHAL.  *  *  And  if  they  were  all  one  member,  where 
were  the  body?  But  now  are  they  many  members,  yet  but 
one  body.' 

*' We  have  proti-acted  these  remarks  to  a  greater  length  than 
we  intended,  and  will  close  by  assuring  Br.  Whittemore,  and 


334  BEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

the  whole  community,  that  our  deliberately  fixed  and  determined 
purpose  is,  to  do  all  we  can  to  promote  union  and  good  feeling 
among  Christians,  and  to  bring  into  the  Christian  fraternity  the 
ignorant  and  those  who  are  out  of  the  way — doing  these  things 
by  the  gentle,  yet  mighty  force  of  truth.  We  are  sensible  of 
our  weakness ;  —  in  a  consciousness  of  pure  motive,  our  reli- 
ance is  on  the  God  and  Father  of  all,  for  success  in  our  feeble 
labors  and  efforts.  If  we  receive  any  unkind  thrusts  in  the 
house  of  our  friends,  we  shall  be  grieved ;  but,  the  Lord  help- 
ing us,  we  shall  not  be  discouraged,  nor  swerved  from  the  path 
by  which  we  think  duty  calls  us." 

I  thank  God  that  I  am  able  to  present  these  difficulties 
that  beset  the  path  of  Mr.  Cobb  as  he  entered  upon  his  new 
field  of  labor,  and  am  at  the  same  time  able  to  assure  the 
reader  that  never  a  ripple,  even,  came  to  ruffie  the  tide  of 
friendship  that  had  so  long  borne  these  brethren  upon  its 
bosom.  Had  it  been  otherwise  I  should  not  have  brought 
these  reminiscences  out  from  their  resting-places.  There 
■were  no  troubles  in  the  social  field  ;  in  the  great  work  of 
promulgating  a  knowledge  of  the  doctrine  of  God's  glorious 
purpose  of  the  final  triumph  of  good  over  evil  thej^  worked 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  and  hand  in  hand,  as  they  had  done 
before  ;  and  at  the  altar  of  the  Risen  Saviour  they  met  as 
though  no  word  save  of  kindness  and  good  cheer  had  ever 
passed  between  them.  And  in  the  after  years,  when  the 
Christian  Freeman  had  become  a  power  in  the  denomina- 
tion, and  in  the  world,  there  was  no  contention  between 
them,  "  save  that  noble  contention,  or  rather,  emulation, 
of  who  could  best  work  and  best  agree." 

Before  closing  this  chapter  I  must  give  the  reader  two 
letters  which  I  find  among  some  old  files,  as  showing  the 
diflerent  stand-points  from  which  different  individuals  can 
view  the  same  subject.  Of  course  I  omit  names,  as  the 
missives  were  not  intended  for  the  public  eye  ;  and  I  will 


THE   MEMOIR.  335 

acid  that  the  writer  of  the  first,  the  last  time  I  heard  from 
him,  was  one  of  the  most  zealous  and  ardent  Republicans 
in  the  country,  going  in  for  the  utter  destruction  of  slavery, 
root  and  branch,  as  a  means  of  saving  the  country  from 
ruin  and  disgrace. 

Here  is  letter  number  one  :  — 

*' Lowell,  Mass.,  Nov.  3d,  1839. 
*'Rev.  S.  Cobb,— 

*'  Dear  Sir,  — When  I  subscribed  for  your  paper  I  supposed 
I  was  going  to  have  a  real  good  Universahst  paper,  as  I  knew 
that  you  were  one  of  the  best  preachers  in  the  country,  and  that 
you  knew  how  to  write  for  the  press,  as  Iliad  read  many  of  your 
articles  in  the  old  Ti-am'pd.  But  I  find  that  I  was  sadly  mistaken. 
I  could  stand  your  Temperance  stuff,  ^s  I  am  not  a  drinking 
man,  though  I  think  a  Universalist  paper  is  not  exactly  the 
place  to  print  it  in,  as  a  good  many  first-rate  Universalists  are 
men  who  make  use  of  spirituous  beverages.  But  I  cannot  stand 
your  stuff  about  Niggers !  You  have  no  business  to  introduce 
that  kind  of  politics  into  a  paper  that  is  meant  for  circulation  in 
our  families.  I  don't  want  mi/  family  to  read  it.  What  have  we, 
as  Universalists,  to  do  with  the  Niggers  ?  They  are  well  enough 
off  as  they  are.  I  should  say,  enough  sight  better  off  than  many 
of  the  poor  girls  that  work  in  our  cotton  factories.  Such  kind 
of  stuft'  won't  go  down  with  me,  and  I  won't  have  it ;  so  you  may 
stop  your  paper  as  soon  as  you  please.  In  your  last  paper  was 
an  article  headed  '  How  shall  Slavery  be  abolished ; '  and  you  say 
you  shall  have  more  to  say  about  it  in  your  next.  But  I  don't 
want  to  see  it ;  so  you  may  stop  my  paper.  I  have  paid  up  to 
next  May,  but  you  may  send  the  rest  of  the  papers  that  I  should 
get  to  somebody  that  loves  the  Niggers  better  than  does 

Yours  truly. 


Mr.  Cobb  did  not  stop  the  paper,  however ;  and  it  may 
be  that  the  Freeman  itself  did  something  towards  bringing 
this  brother  from  darkness  to  light. 

The  next  letter  is  as  follows  :  — 


336  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,   D.D. 

"New  Bedfokd,  Dec.  7th,  1839. 
"Rev.  S.  Cobb,— 

"  Dear  Sir  and  Friend,  —  I  know  not  how  to  thank  you  for 
the  jDleasure  and  profit  I  have  derived  in  the  perusal  of  jour 
truly  excellent  paper.  I  was  led  to  subscribe  for  it  in  the  first 
place  on  account  of  its  devotion  to  Human  Freedom.  I  had 
lived  in  the  South,  having  spent  three  years  in  Alabama,  at  work 
on  a  large  sugar  plantation  at  my  trade  as  a  cooper,  and  I  knew 
something  of  the  terrible  sin  of  slavery.  I  do  not  see  how  a  man 
can  be  a  Christian,  and  at  the  same  time  an  upholder  of  slavery ; 
nor  can  I  see  how  a  man  can  be  an  anti-slavery  man  if  he  is 
afraid  to  preach  it.  When  I  have  heard  men  declare  that  the 
subject  of  slavery  was  not  fit  to  be  carried  into  the  pulpit  I  could 
not  help  thinking  what  Christ  would  do  could  he  to-day  be  sent 
on  earth  to  redeem  America  as  he  was  once  sent  to  redeem 
Judea,  and,  with  it,  the  world.  I  think  he  would  not  hesitate  to 
sj^eak  out  against  a  sin  so  enormous.  The  man  who  says  that 
Christ  would  have  remained  silent  on  such  a  subject  is  not  a  fit 
follower  of  the  Blessed  Lamb  whose  blood  was  shed  to  wash 
away  the  sins  of  the  world. 

"  God  bless  you,  sir,  in  your  noble  work  ;  and  I  have  a  double 
reason  for  blessing  you.  Before  taking  your  paper  my  mind  had 
not  become  settled  upon  any  particular  religious  faith,  though  I 
was  rather  inclined  to  the  Methodist  persuasion.  But  I  have  no 
doubts  now.  I  first  thought  that  the  religion  which  could  lead 
you  to  speak  so  boldly  for  the  liberty  of  a  downtrodden  and  en- 
slaved race  must  be  a  good  one,  and  I  have  become  more  than 
satisfied.  As  I  have  read  your  Scripture  expositions  from  week 
to  week,  my  eyes  have  been  opened,  and  I  now  see  my  way 
clearly.  If  Christ  shall,  in  the  end,  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul 
and  be  satisfied,  what  have  I  to  fear  ?  I  know  the  work  he  was 
sent  to  do,  and  you  have  led  me  to  see  that  he  will  accomplish 
it. 

"  I  herewith  send  you  two  new  subscribers  for  your  paper, 
and  the  money  to  pay  for  the  same  for  one  year.  May  your 
shadow  never  be  less. 

"  Yours  for  the  oppressed  everywhere. 


THE  MEMOIR.  337 

And  so  the  work  went  on.  There  were  some  head-flaws, 
and  some  sources  of  vexation  ;  but  there  were  many  gleams 
of  sunshine  cast  upon  the  pathway  of  the  bold  and  devoted 
defender  of  the  Rights  of  Humanity  ;  and  he  grew  strong 
in  the  work  as  he  became  more  and  more  convinced  of  the 
need  thereof. 


838  JIEV.    SYLVANUS    COBBy   D.D, 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

Mr.  Cobb's  position  as  a  Eeformer,  —  "  Between  two 
FIRES,"  —  Br.  Greenwood's  Acrostic,  —  Commenda- 
tory. 

An  obscure  man  of  tbe  olden  time,  desiring  to  make  a 
noise  in  tlie  world,  and  to  have  his  name  handed  down  to 
posterit}^,  set  fire  to  the  magnificent  Temple  of  Diana,  thus 
in  a  few  hours  reducing  to  a  heap  of  ruins  a  pile  that  had 
occupied  the  genius  of  the  most  celebrated  artists,  and  the 
time  of  thousands  of  workmen,  for  years.  And  he  gained 
what  he  sought.  He  became  at  once  famed,  and  his  name 
stands  recorded  in  history  among  the  notables  of  his  day 
and  generation.  So  at  the  present  time  there  are  men  who 
seek  to  m.ake  a  noise  in  the  world  simply  through  convul- 
sion —  who  seek  to  make  themselves  notorious,  caring  little 
what  the  result  to  others  may  be  so  that  they  gain  the  end 
of  personal  notoriet}^  There  are  men  calling  themselves 
Reformers  whose  only  object  seems  to  be,  to  destroy.  They 
have  a  great  penchant  for  tearing  down  old  institutions ; 
but  they  do  not  burden  their  minds  with  thoughts  of  build- 
ing up  anything.  Such  men  are  apt  to  inscribe  upon  their 
banners  one  or  two  legends  which  will  enlist  the  sympathies 
of  those  who  desire  healthy  reform  ;  but  these  are  after  all 
only  baits  thrown  out  to  draw  the  unsuspecting  and  unwary 
to  their  standards.  For  instance :  Men  have  professed 
great  devotion  to  the  principles  of  Temperance  and  Human 
Freedom,  while   the   direct  tendency  of  their  eflbrts  has 


THE   MEMOIR.  339 

been,  to  break  down  the  sacred  institutions  of  the  Sabbath 
and  the  Christian  Religion. 

At  the  time  when  Mr.  Cobb  commenced  his  labors  as  an 
apostle  of  Temperance  and  Human  Freedom  there  were  a 
class  of  men  in  the  country,  travelling  about  from  place  to 
place,  ostensibly  to  educate  the  people  up  to  a  true  stand- 
ard of  opinion  on  those  subjects,  but  the  practical  result 
of  whose  ministration  was,  to  alienate  the  people  from  some 
of  the  best  and  most  sacred  institutions  of  the  land. 

Now  Mr.  Cobb  was  a  reformer,  in  the  strictest  and  high- 
est sense  of  that  term  ;  but  he  looked  to  reform  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  something  more  than  simply  uprooting  old 
prejudices,  and  tearing  down  old  institutions.  He  pro- 
posed to  BUILD  UP.  If  he  applied  the  besom,  it  was  only  to 
sweep  away  dirt  and  rubbish ;  and  if  he  put  his  hands  to 
an}^  of  the  parts  of  old  structures,  it  was  only  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  such  alterations  as  would  conduce  to  the 
comfort  and  well-being  of  society.  So,  as  he  went  on  with 
his  work,  he  found  two  classes  of  opponents  whom  he  was 
forced  to  meet  and  engage.  On  one  hand  were  those  who 
were  entirely  satisfied  to  let  things  remain  as  they  were  ; 
while  on  the  other  were  those  extreme  come-outers  who 
went  in  for  a  general  system  of  social  devastation. 

Those  men  who  make  the  most  noise  are  not  the  men 
who  do  the  most  work ;  and  those  who  make  the  greatest 
show  of  grand  preparation  are  not  those  who  accomplish 
most.  Few  men  are  aware  how  much  Mr.  Cobb  really  ac- 
complished in  the  work  of  Reform,  for  very  few  know,  or 
have  any  idea  of,  how  much  labor  in  that  direction  he  per- 
formed. There  was  nothing  spasmodic  in  his  movements  ; 
but  from  the  time  when  first  he  put  his  hand  to  the  work  to 
the  failing  of  his  strength,  his  life  was  one  continuous  cur- 
rent of  action  —  action  wisely  considered,  and  well-directed, 


340  BEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D, 

bearing  him  surel}^  on  to  victory.  He  had  to  labor  with 
those  who  needed  instruction  in  the  great  principles  of 
moral  and  social  truth ;  and  he  had  to  hold  off  those  who 
objected  to  the  dissemination  of  such  knowledge  ;  and  all 
the  while  there  were  not  wanting  those  who  were  ready  on 
frequent  occasions  to  denounce  him  because  he  would  not 
join  in  all  the  wild  and  fantastic  isms  of  the  day. 

He  had  worked  out  his  course  ;  he  had  faith  that  it  was 
right ;  and  he  would  not  depart  from  it ;  and  I  know  that 
he  sought  God  upon  his  knees  very  often  for  guidance  and 
strength.  There  were  those  in  the  Universalist  denomina- 
tion who  were  inclined  to  be  over-zealous  in  their  opposi- 
tion to  slavery, —  who  would  make  that  evil  a  "  hobby," 
to  be  ridden  at  all  times,  and  into  all  places,  to  the  detri- 
ment of  other  good  and  needed  reforms.  Some  few  there 
were  who  would  even  go  so  far  as  to  give  the  subject  of 
Abolitionism  precedence  over  the  legitimate  work  of  dis- 
seminating the  principles  of  our  faith.  Such  men,  in  Mr. 
Cobb's  estimation,  "  put  the  cart  before  the  horse."  He 
regarded  Christianity  as  the  grand  motive  power,  and  he 
who  would  take  to  himself  a  fii*m  and  sure  foundation  upon 
which  to  erect  his  superstructure  of  reform,  must  be  strong 
in  the  faith  of  God's  unending  love  and  unswerving  justice. 
It  was  his  religion  that  led  him  to  labor  for  the  good  of  the 
unfortunate  children  of  sin  and  sorrow,  and  he  would  join 
in  no  movement  which  was  calculated  to  detract  from  the 
merits  of  that  religion,  or  to  hinder  its  progress  of  develop- 
ment in  the  minds  of  his  fellow-men. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  some  of  the  more  ardent 
and  zealous  of  those  Abolitionists  who  had  embraced  the 
Universalist  faith  sought  to  make  the  Freeman  the  vehicle 
of  their  peculiar  opinions  and  ideas,  and  in  the  disposition 


THE   MEMOIR.  341 

of  such  matters  the  editor  was  called  upon  to  exercise  nice 
judgment. 

At  the  close  of  the  previous  chapter  I  remarked  that 
many  gleams  of  sunshine  were  cast  upon  the  pathway  of 
the  editor ;  and  I  have  a  mind  to  give  one  or  two  of  them 
in  this  place.  He  who  has  never  occupied  the  chair  edito- 
rial cannot  fully  appreciate  the  value  of  kind  words  of  com- 
mendation from  friends  and  patrons.  The  product  of  an 
editor's  labor  is  cast  before  the  eyes  of  thousands  of  critics 
every  week,  and  if  he  has  the  soul  in  him  fit  for  the  work 
he  will  be  childish  enough  to  wish  to  know  what  people 
say  about  him.  Editors  are  human,  and  though  they  are 
obliged  to  bear  before  the  world  an  appearance  of  impene- 
trability, yet  they  have  feelings  like  other  men,  and  words 
of  praise  make  them  glad.  In  fact,  show  me  the  man  who 
does  not  experience  a  thrill  of  pleasure  and  satisfaction  when 
a  word  in  praise  of  some  effort  which  he  has  made  reaches 
his  ear,  and  I  will  show  you  a  man  who  knows  not  what  it 
is  to  feel  a  kindly  wish  for  others. 

The  following  was  written,  as  the  reader  will  see  by  the 
date,  during  the  third  3^ear  of  the  Freeman's  existence,  and 
the  words  with  which  the  editor  introduces  it  will  show 
how  he  estimated  it.     He  says,  at  the  introduction,  — 

The  following  beautiful,  sentimental,  poetic  effusion  of  Br. 
Greenwood,  is  as  refreshing  as  the  dews  of  heaven :  — 

For  the  Freeman  and  Visiter. 

ACROSTIC. 

T-hou  hast  come,  "  Christian  Freeman/'  a  thrice  welcome  guest, 
H-aving  power  to  impart  of  thy  spirit  to  me, 
E-ver  since  thy  first  tones  to  my  ears  were  address'd, 
C-onveying  the  heart-stirring  notes  of  the  Free  ! 
H-owbeit,  thou  stand'st  on  position  unmated, 
R-elying  alone  on  the  strength  of  thy  Cause; 
29* 


342  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

I-n  thy  thu3  far  career  thou  hast  many  elated, 

S-weet  Freedom  to  hope  for,  yea,  "  Freedom  with  Laws." 

T-hy  foes  had  foreboded  abundance  of  evil, 

I-n  broaching  a  subject  on  which  thou  hast  dwelt, 

A-nd  regarding  thy  spirit  scarce  else  than  the  Devil, 

N-ought  but  harshness  and  hatred  against  thee  were  dealt  : 

F-or  thou  walked'st  in  a  path  which  man's  fears  had  forbidden, 

R-elying  on  Riget  to  conduct  thee  safe  through, 

E-ven  tho'  in  thy  footpath  small  vipers  were  hidden ; 

E-ven  tho'  they  should  spit  out  their  venoms  at  you. 

Man's  Rights,  e'en  as  man,  thou  hast  well  vindicated, 

A-nd  nobly  contended  that  all  should  be  free; 

N-otwithstanding  the  skin-hues  which  God  hath  created, 

A  SOUL,  not  the  color,  the  standard  should  be  ! 

N-ow  God  speed  thee  onward,  on  pinions  of  love, 

D-ripping  balm  to  the  bruised  and  the  bleeding  of  earth, 

F-illing  those  held  in  thraldom  with  hope  from  above, 

A-nd  the  hearts  of  the  mourning  with  gladness  and  mirth. 

M-ay  thy  voice  in  sweet  gospel  strains  always  resounding, 

I-n  behalf  of  a  world  having  claims  upon  thee; 

L-ike  the  Saviour's  voice  speak,  in  true  wisdom  abounding, 

Y-e  shall  all  know  the  Truth,  —  and  the  Truth  shall  make  Free  ! 

V-iewing  man  as  the  brother  of  man,  the  world  over, 

I-n  the  image  of  God  once  created,  and  bless'd 

S-ince  the  Saviour  appeared,  this  great  truth  to  discover, 

I-n  Jesus,  the  Lord,  shall  all  nations  find  rest,  — 

T-hy  voice  lift  thou  up,  without  fearing  or  doubting, 

E-'en  with  strength  lift  it  up,  and  be  not  afraid; 

R-elying  on  God,  and  still  LIBERTY  shouting, 

The  blessings  of  millions  shall  rest  on  thy  head. 

T.  J.  G. 

Marlboro',  Dec,  1841. 

After  I  had  commenced  this  chapter,  while  looking  over 
the  third  volume  of  the  FREE]yiAN,  I  came  across  an  article 
of  commendation  which  I  think  will  fit  in  here  exactly,  as 
it  goes  to  help  sustain  the  position  I  assumed  touching  Mr. 
Cobb's  judicious  and  healthful  management  of  reformatory 
matters  in  connection  with  the  affairs  of  our  denomination. 


THE  MEMOIR.  343 

It  is  from  the  pen  of  a  gentleman  of  refinement  and  cul- 
ture, and  occupying  a  high  position  in  the  social  and  moral 
world :  — 

For  the  Christian  Freeman. 

COMJVIENDATORY. 

"  Mr.  Editor  —  I  have  for  some  time  been  furnished  with  the 
Christian  Freeman  and  Family  Visiter.  I  have  endeav- 
ored to  examine  its  contents  with  the  care  and  candor  to  which 
works  of  the  kind  are  entitled ;  and  a  very  acceptable  visiter,  I 
can  assure  you,  it  has  proved. 

*'  From  the  commencement  of  the  publication,  a  number  had 
occasionally  fallen  under  my  eye ;  and,  from  the  favorable  im- 
pression thus  made,  I  concluded  to  take  the  work,  long  enough, 
at  least,  to  make  myself  somewhat  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
its  general  character,  and  the  claims  it  might  have  upon  the 
reading  portion  of  our  community. 

*'  As  I  was  already  pretty  amply  supplied  with  periodicals  of 
different  descriptions,  I  know  not  that  I  should  have  thought  of 
adding  yours  to  the  number,  had  it  not  been  for  the  fact,  that 
some  of  my  most  valued  friends,  those  in  whose  judgment  I  have 
found  reason  to  place  more  than  ordinary  confidence,  had  ex- 
pressed some  scruples  with  respect  to  the  propriety  of  giving  it 
their  countenance  and  support. 

"  Their  scruples  arose  from  an  apprehension  that  some  of  the 
topics,  the  free  and  full  discussion  of  which  you  allow  in  your 
columns,  ought  not  to  be  admitted  into  a  religious  periodical ; 
and  especially  at  a  time  of  such  high  popular  excitement  in  re- 
gard to  them,  as  the  present. 

**  To  some  extent,  I  was  myself,  perhaps,  the  subject  of  a  sim- 
ilar apprehension.  This  difficulty,  however,  so  far  as  I  am  con- 
cerned, has  been  wholly  surmounted.  Not  a  vestige  of  it  re- 
mains. By  a  careful,  and,  I  hope,  candid  perusal  of  the  Chris- 
tian Freeman,  I  have  become  fully  convinced  that  it  is  not  the 
topics  themselves,  to  which  I  have  alluded,  that  are  unsuitable 
for  discussion  in  a  religious  periodical ;  but  the  unkind,  harsh 
and  abusive  style  in  which  such  discussions  have  too  frequently 
been  carried  on. 

"  That  the  great  questions  of  slavery  or  no  slavery;  intem- 


344  JiEF.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

perance  or  no  intemperance,  are  proper  subjects  of  human 
inquiry,  no  one  can,  for  a  moment,  entertain  a  doubt.  The 
hapless  slave  whom  a  most  barbarous  custom  has  cruelly  abused, 
and  the  miserable  inebriate  who  abuses  himself,  have  just  de- 
mands for  the  fearless  and  full  examination  of  their  respective 
cases.  They  have  a  right  to  know,  and  they  ought  to  know, 
whether  the  great  interests  of  civilized  and  Christian  society, 
absolutely  require  the  perpetuation  of  the  unnatural  and  enor- 
mous evils  of  human  bondage,  and  of  drunkenness. 

"  The  ill-fated  and  much-to-be-pitied  possessor  of  slaves,  and 
the  dishonored  and  deeply  afflicted  relatives  and  friends  of  the 
poor,  self-degraded,  and  self-tormented,  inebriate,  have  power- 
ful claims  upon  their  fellow-men,  for  a  generous  and  searching 
investigation  of  the  grounds  upon  which  the  dreadful  scourges 
of  slavery  and  inebriation  are  continued  among  men.  On  this 
account,  therefore,  no  less  than  on  that  of  the  lorn  slave  and  the 
drunkard  themselves,  ought  these  matters  to  be  thoroughly  and 
dispassionately  inquired  into. 

"  The  house  of  God,  moreover,  and  the  common  dictates  of 
humanity ;  ay,  and  the  spirit  of  that  holy  and  compassionate 
religion,  professed  by  the  great  mass  of  our  community,  call 
aloud  and  incessantly  for  such  an  inquiry.  And  it  is  not,  I 
repeat,  the  subjects  themselves,  which  are  fraught  with  danger; 
but  an  indiscreet  manner  of  handling  them. 

'*  From  the  peculiar  state  of  the  times ;  the  position  which  one 
section  of  our  common  countrymen  sustain  towards  the  other ; 
and,  especially,  from  the  intense  sensitiveness  which  pervades 
our  whole  land,  upon  these  subjects,  the  discussion  of  them  calls 
for  a  very  guarded  foresight  and  discretion. 

"  A  hasty  and  impetuous  spirit;  a  head-strong  enthusiasm;  a 
tongue  unbridled  and  habitually  denunciatory,  hung  upon  the 
pivot  of  a  rash  and  extravagant  censoriousness  —  these  ought 
never  to  meddle  with  this  grave  and  benevolent  work.  It  is 
too  high  and  holy  for  their  habits.  They  will  do  it  no  good,  ad- 
vance it  onward  not  a  hair's  breadth.  No  ;  they  will  do  it  harm ; 
heap  dishonor  upon  it ;  lamentably  retard  its  jDrogress.  They 
have  already,  and  often,  done  these  things,  though,  I  am  will- 
ing to  believe,  with  other  and  the  best  intentions. 

**  In  the  conductor  of  the  Freeman,  however,  I  am  happy  to 
meet  with  a  mind,  and  a  spirit,  eminently  qualified  to  do  justice 


THE   MEMOIR.  345 

to  these  exciting  and  difficult  subjects,  and  to  all  who  are  in  any- 
way affected  by  them.  I  have  been  much  gratified  by  the  cool 
self-possession,  the  candor,  the  tenderness,  and,  above  all,  the 
high-minded  and  generous  regard  to  the  feelings  of  the  parties, 
deemed  by  many  to  be  criminally  involved,  which  have  hitherto 
marked  your  course.  They  bear  the  signature  of  a  genuine 
magnanimity ;  and  I  beg  to  assure  all  under  whose  eye  these 
remarks  may  fall,  that  they  need  not  hesitate  about  subscribing 
for  the  Freeman,  from  an  apprehension  that  they  may  meet 
with  something  offensive  in  its  columns,  on  the  controverted 
questions  to  which  I  have  alluded.  From  what  I  have  seen  of 
the  paper,  there  are,  I  am  confident,  no  just  grounds  for  the 
indulgence  of  any  such  fears. 

*'  The  abolitionist  and  anti-abolitionist;  the  temperance  man, 
and  he  who  is  not,  unless  under  the  dominion  of  unreasonable 
prejudices,  may  read  it  with  equal  pleasure  and  advantage. 
There  is  much  in  every  number  which  I  have  seen,  to  instruct, 
to  edify,  and  to  comfort  every  individual,  and  every  family, 
desirous  of  knowing  the  truth,  and  of  growing  '  in  grace,  and 
in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.' 

"  The  leading  editorial  articles,  in  particular,  I  deem  to  be 
exceedingly  valuable.  They  discuss,  in  a  very  plain  and  thor- 
ough manner,  subjects  of  general  and  thrilling  interest,  and 
with  which  all  whose  minds  are  exercised,  as  they  ought  to  be, 
upon  the  great  question  respecting  the  true  meaning  of  the  holy 
Scriptures,  must  feel  deeply  anxious  to  become  acquainted. 

"The  tales,  also,  which  occasionally  meet  with  an  insertion, 
will  be  found  entertaining  and  profitable,  as  each  one  carries 
along  with  it  a  moral,  rich  in  spiritual  and  practical  influences. 

*'  In  a  word,  without  any  intention  to  flatter,  I  can  truly  say, 
that,  in  my  own  opinion,  for  general,  family  use,  if  on  no  other 
account,  the  Christian  Freeman  and  Family  Visiter  justly 
deserves  a  rank  among  the  very  best  of  the  religious  periodicals 
of  the  age." 

This  book  will  fall  under  the  eyes  of  many  who  never 
saw  the  Christian  Freeman,  and  I  have  devoted  thus 
much  space  to  these  commendatory  articles  in  order  to 


346  nEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

show  in  what  light  the  paper  was  held  by  good  and  true 
men. 

When  I  was  j'ounger  than  I  am  now,  and  when  the  pub- 
lication of  a  hebdomadal  devoted  to  the  interests  of  a  dis- 
tinctive organization  had  flattened  down  my  pocket-book 
to  a  degree  of  thinness  truly  alarming,  I  aspired  to  an 
office  in  the  Boston  Custom  House.  The  first  name  upon 
my  petition  was  that  of  ex-Governor  Briggs,  and  the  sec- 
ond, Dea.  Moses  Grant.  ''  Never  mind  the  rest,"  said 
Mr.  Greeley,  the  collector,  when  he  had  cast  his  eyes  upon 
those  two  autographs  ;  "  if  you  had  a  thousand  more  signa- 
tures they  would  not  lead  me  to  give  your  petition  a  more 
favorable  consideration  than  will  those  two." 

And  so  it  is  in  all  departments  of  life.  So  far  as  gen- 
eral principles  are  concerned,  the  evidence  of  one  or  two 
intelligent  witnesses  is  sufficient  to  establish  the  truth.  It 
is  a  fact  that  Mr.  Cobb  gave  to  the  public  an  excellent 
famil}^  paper,  and  he  spared  no  pains  of  time,  labor,  or 
money,  to  make  the  Freeman  a  welcome  and  entertaining 
Visiter  to  the  thousands  of  families  that  had  given  it  a 
place  at  their  firesides. 


THE  MEMOIR,  347 


CHAPTEE  V. 

Mr.  Cobb's  Temperance,  —  His  first  Glass,  —  Uproot- 
ing OLD  Customs,  —  A  return  of  Bread  cast  upon 

THE  WATERS, AnECDOTE. 

Mr.  Cobb  was  a  Temperance  man  from  inclination  as 
well  as  principle.  Except  when  prescribed  by  a  medical 
practitioner,  he  never  but  once  in  his  life  tasted  of  distilled 
spirit.  Upon  his  father's  farm,  as  itpon  all  other  farms  in 
those  days,  alcoholic  beverages  were  furnished  for  such  of 
the  workmen  as  desired  them,  especially  during  the  sea- 
sons of  sheep-washing  and  haying ;  and  the  spirit  most 
generally  in  use  was  "  pure  old  New-England  Rum."  One 
warm,  sweltering  day  in  July,  when  the  hands  came  in  from 
the  haj^-field  to  their  dinner,  the  brown  jug  was  taken  from 
the  closet  and  placed  upon  a  side  table,  and  those  who  felt 
the  need  thereof  "  took  a  drop  "  before  sitting  down  to  the 
meal.  One  tough  old  fellow,  who  had  done  work  enough 
to  entitle  him  to  the  privilege  of  an  "  extra  drop,"  poured 
out  nearly  half  a  tumbler  full,  and  having  drank  it  off, 
without  addition  of  water  or  sugar,  he  smacked  his  lips  as 
though  he  loved  it.  The  subject  of  our  memoir,  then  a  boy 
of  some  ten  years,  had  conceived  quite  a  liking  for  this  old 
Trojan,  and  he  fancied  that  there  must  be  something  re- 
markabl}^  good  in  the  beverage  that  had  given  him  such 
apparent  satisfaction.  It  was  not  often  that  such  an  op- 
portunity was  presented,  as  the  host  seldom  brought  that 


348  liEV.    STLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

jug  out  from  its  place  of  rest  save  when  others  than  mem- 
bers of  his  family  were  at  work  for  him,  and  on  the  present 
occasion  the  lad  thought  he  would  try  a  taste  of  the  liquor. 
So  he  poured  some  out  into  a  tumbler,  and  put  it  to  his 
lips  as  the  Trojan  had  done  before  him,  in  its  pure  and  un- 
diluted state.  He  took  one  swallow,  and,  with  a  smothered 
gasp  of  agony,  he  dropped  the  glass,  and  started  for  the 
water-pail.  His  sensitive  palate  was  on  fire  ;  tears  started 
from  his  eyes ;  and  a  shudder  ran  through  his  frame  as 
though  he  had  received  a  shock  from  an  electric  battery. 
As  soon  as  he  had  regained  his  breath,  and  rinsed  out  his 
mouth,  he  looked  back  upon  the  brown  jug  and  wondered 
how  a  man  could  drink  that  stuff  and  love  it.  He  had  re- 
ceived it  upon  its  first  introduction  in  its  pure  and  natural 
state,  and  that  once  suflSced.     He  never  tried  it  again. 

The  reader  who  has  perused  the  Autobiography  has  seen 
at  what  an  early  date  Mr.  Cobb  commenced  his  labors  as  a 
Temperance  Reformer.  There  are  men  who  have  made 
vastly  more  noise  in  the  Temperance  world,  and  who  have 
become  more  popular  upon  the  Temperance  rostrum ;  but 
I  know  there  are  none  w^ho  have  labored  more  faithfully, 
and  I  doubt  if  there  are  any  who  have  labored  more  suc- 
cessfully. He  commenced  when  it  was  unpopular  to  be  a 
temperance  man.  He  urged  total  abstinence  upon  his 
friends  when  he  stood  almost  alone  upon  that  platform. 
He  did  not  open  his  career  surrounded  by  a  sympathizing 
multitude ;  he  did  not  have,  in  those  pioneer  times,  meet- 
ings appointed  for  him  by  the  leading  citizens  of  a  town, 
and  find  himself  applauded  and  cheered  by  the  solid  men 
of  the  community.  He  did  not  find  himself  backed  up  by 
public  opinion,  with  all  the  wives  and  daughters  on  his 
side.  No,  —  he  had  to  go  at  work  and  make  that  public 
opinion,  and  the  wives  and  daughters  of  leading  citizens 


THE   MEMOIR.  349 

were  among  those  whom  he  had  to  educate  up  to  a  ?>ym- 
pathy  with  his  cause.  Occupjing  a  position  which,  far 
more  than  most  positions  of  life,  required  that,  for  his  own 
comfort,  he  should  draw  the  hearts  of  men  unto  him,  he 
had  the  manly  courage  to  take  the  Temperance  Pledge  in 
his  hand  and  go  forth  among  his  parishioners  for  signa- 
tures. And  what  was  it  that  he  asked  his  friends  and 
neighbors  to  do  ?  It  was  to  make  a  radical  change  in  their 
habits  of  social  life  —  to  uproot  and  cast  out  one  of  the 
most  general  and  significant  of  all  social  customs.  At  that 
time  the  decanter  was  upon  nearly  QXQvy  sideboard,  and  the 
host  who  suffered  a  visiter  to  come  and  go  without  offering 
a  glass  of  spirits  was  considered  to  have  committed  a  gross 
impropriet}' .  The  minister,  and  the  doctor,  calling  either 
in  a  social  or  professional  capacity,  must  be  presented  with 
the  "  generous  stimulant,"  and  even  an  ecclesiastical  coun- 
cil was  not  considered  perfect  in  its  appurtenances  if  the 
decanters  and  glasses  were  wanting.  And  then  let  it  be 
particularly  borne  in  mind  that  the  women  were  the  m.ost 
unwilling  of  all  to  listen  to  the  proposition  for  a  change  in 
this  custom.  To  them  was  entrusted  the  charge  of  the 
hospitalities  of  the  house,  and  theirs  was  the  privilege  of 
extending  the  "  spirit "  welcome.  The  matron  was  proud 
of  her  glittering  array  of  decanters  and  finely  cut  and  pol- 
ished goblets,  and  if  these  were  removed  it  seemed  to  her 
that  she  should  be  forsaken  by  her  friends.  I  will  not  say 
that  women  are  more  slaves  to  custom  than  are  the  men ; 
but  it  is  true  that  they  are  more  strongly  attached  to  social 
and  domestic  habits  and  institutions ;  and  though  the 
women  now  —  God  bless  them  !  —  are  foremost  in  the  good 
work,  yet  in  those  times  they  were  ver}^  loath  to  have  their 
china-closets  and  side-boards  stripped  of  their  prettiest 
ware. 

30 


350  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  when  Mr.  Cobb  devoted 
himself  to  the  temperance  work.  He  had  no  hope  of 
pecuniary  return ;  and,  in  fact,  he  sought  no  return  save 
such  return  of  happy  reflection  as  might  be  his  to  enjoy 
consequent  upon  good  done  to  his  fellow-men.  In  these 
later  days  temperance  workmen  have  been  reaping  where 
he  sowed.  Many  and  many  a  glorious  temperance  crop 
has  been  gathered  by  true-hearted,  zealous  laborers,  which 
came  from  seed  that  he  sowed  in  those  other  3'ears.  And 
he  lived  to  see  his  work  prosper ;  and  his  heart  was  often 
made  glad  upon  beholding  the  rich  returns  of  moral  fruit 
in  those  places  where  he  had  "  cast  his  bread  upon  the 
waters." 

During  the  month  of  April,  1842,  Mr.  Cobb's  eye  caught 
the  following  item  in  the  "  Mercantile  Journal,''  of  Bos- 
ton: — 

"  Three  cheers  for  Malden.  — At  a  public  meeting  of  the 
citizens  of  Maiden,  on  Monday  last,  the  question  came  before 
the  town,  Avhether  the  Selectmen  should  be  instructed  to  grant 
any  licenses  for  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks.  NO  !  was  the 
UNANIMOUS  answer.     What  town  will  beat  this  ?  " 

Such  items  as  this  brought  gleams  of  comfort  to  the 
pioneer,  and  called  up  pleasing  reflections  in  his  mind. 
Upon  the  foregoing  scrap  of  intelligence  Mr.  Cobb,  in  his 
paper  of  April  22d,  remarks  as  follows  :  — 

"This  intelligence  is  j^leasing  to  us,  particularly  so,  as  the 
inhabitants  of  Maiden  are  our  old  neighbors  and  associates,  and 
as  that  is  the  field  of  our  early  temperance  labors.  For  ten 
years  we  ofliciated  as  Pastor  of  the  First  Parish  in  that  town. 
When  the  Temperance  Society  had  been  in  operation  there  a 
short  time,  and  we  had  prepared  the  way  by  occasional  private 
conversation,  and  by  a  public  discourse  on  it  in  our  own  desk, 
on  a  fast  day,  we  borrowed  the  Temperance  Constitution,  and 


THE   MEMOIR.  351 

went  from  house  to  house  among  the  members  of  our  society, 
solicitmg  then*  names.  This  was  no  small  undertaking.  We 
had  a  great  variety  of  objections  to  encounter,  and  generally  a 
considerable  discussion  at  each  house.  Some  said,  '  It  is  a  sec- 
tarian thing ;  the  society  has  conducted  the  matter  in  a  sectarian 
sjiirit;  and  when  we  have  been  in  to  hear  a  temperance  lecture, 
we  have  been  paid  off  with  a  sectarian  sermon.'  Upon  this  we 
would  endeavor  to  show  them  that  they  must  consider  the  merits 
of  the  temperance  cause,  independently  of  the  management  of 
its  professed  friends;  that  if  the  cause  was  good,  they  were 
morally  bound  to  give  it  their  support ;  that  they  ought  not  to 
leave  so  good  a  cause  in  what  they  called  sectarian  hands,  but 
should  go  forward  and  do  their  own  duty,  &c.,  &c.  Ojjiers  would 
urge  that  they  knew  best  what  was  good  for  themselves ;  and 
others,  that  they  would  not  sign  away  tlieir  liberty.  All  these 
objections,  too,  had  to  be  talked  over.  We  succeeded,  however, 
to  obtain  the  signatures  of  nearly  fifty  heads  of  families  in  our 
society,  in  the  first  tour  through,  which  required  about  a  week's 
time. 

"One  case  in  particular  we  will  mention,  as  an  example  of 
good  principle.  We  called  upon  a  gentleman  who  had  long  been 
a  sea  Captain  in  the  East  India  trade.  We  presented  the  case 
before  him,  and  he  cheerfully  responded,  '  I  have  been  in  the 
habit  of  taking  a  social  glass  of  spirits  with  a  friend  occasionally ; 
but  if  I  can  do  any  good  by  signing  the  pledge,  and  dispensing 
with  the  habit,  I  will  do  so.'  His  lady  remarked  that  she  had  no 
desire  to  take  spirit  except  when  she  came  in  chilly  on  a  cold 
evening,  and  felt  that  there  was  danger  of  taking  a  cold.  Then 
she  found  that  a  little  hot  drink,  with  a  mixture  of  some  kind  of 
spirit,  was  warming  —  Our  'help-meet,'  who  happened  to  be 
with  us  on  this  call,  re^Dlied,  that  doubtless  she  found  the  hot 
toddy  more  conducive  to  warmth  than  nothing,  but  there  were 
substitutes  which  would  answer  as  good  a  purpose,  or  probably 
better.  For  one  of  the  substitutes  she  gave  to  the  lady  a  recipe 
for  a  pleasantginger  tea.  '  AVell,'  said  she,  *  add  my  name  with 
my  husband's  to  the  Temperance  pledge.'  Since  then,  this  gen- 
tleman and  lady  have  done  more  good  to  society,  by  their  tem- 
perance influence,  than  they  could  have  done  by  bequeathing 
their  whole  estate,  to  endow  literary  and  benevolent  institu- 
tions. 


352  EEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

"But  there  were  some  who  became  unfriendly  towards  us, 
because  of  our  interest  in  the  Temperance  reform,  and  especially 
for  our  once  signing  a  memorial  to  the  County  Commissioners, 
expressing  the  opinion  that  the  licensing  of  dramselling  would 
not  subserve  the  public  good.  But  we  have  never  regretted  the 
part  taken  by  us  in  the  Temperance  reform ;  and  we  now  rejoice 
in  the  blessed  consummation  in  said  town,  in  that,  though  there 
are  doubtless  a  few  individuals  dissenting  from  this  position,  it 
has  already  come  to  pass  that  the  town  meeting  has  unanimously 
voted  the  truth  of  the  same  doctrine  to  which  we  subscribed  our 
name  some  number  of  years  ago.  Brethren  in  Maiden,  '  hold 
fast  that  which  is  good.' " 

In  his  speeches  upon  Temperance  Mr.  Cobb  seldom,  if 
ever,  sought  to  amuse  his  hearers ;  and  he  never  essaj^ed 
to  create  smiles  by  presenting  the  subject  of  intemperance 
in  any  of  its  fmmy  lights.  He  always  treated  the  subject 
in  solemn  seriousness,  and  made  his  appeals  directly  to 
the  heart  and  understanding.  He  never  attempted  to  set 
an  audience  agape  with  wonder  by  drawing  f)ictures  that 
never  had  foundation  in  fact ;  and  he  never  allowed  him- 
self to  barst  forth  into  wild,  senseless  tirade  against  any 
class  of  his  misguided  fellow-men;  but  he  spoke  calmly 
and  deliberately,  sometimes  warming  into  zealous  invective 
against  the  giant  wrong,  and  severely  denouncing  those 
who  sought  to  fasten  that  wrong  upon  the  community. 

There  was  one  quality  in  Mr.  Cobb  as  a  reformatory 
speaker  which  peculiarly  fitted  him  for  the  work.  Under 
no  circumstances  could  language  be  drawn  from  him  in  the 
heat  of  debate  which  he  would  wish  to  toi\e  down  upon 
after  reflection ;  and  the  result  of  this  was,  that  he  could 
never  be  moved  from  positions  once  assumed.  He  pos- 
sessed qualities  which  would  have  constituted  him  a  most 
excellent  Judge.  He  never  expressed  a  decided  opinion 
until  he  had  given  the  subject  in  hand  a  critical  investiga- 


THE   MEMOIR.  353 

tion ;  and,  moreover,  his  intuition  was  constitutional!}^ 
healthy  and  reliable.  The  very  ponderosity  and  calm  truth- 
fulness of  his  arguments  rendered  it  impossible  for  him  to 
produce  one  of  those  pretty,  poetical,  flowery  speeches 
which  delight  an  audience  for  the  time  being,  but  which  im- 
press upon  the  mind  no  ideas  that  can  be  carried  home  for 
after  stud}^  and  profit.  He  aimed  not  so  much  to  elicit 
present  response  of  applause  as  to  fasten  upon  the  mind 
wise  and  serious  maxims  of  life  that  should  grow  and  bear 
fruit  in  the  time  to  come.  Even  in  ordinary  conversation 
he  was  guarded  by  this  same  principle.  He  seemed  to 
regard  spoken  words  as  so  many  indices  of  the  mind  by 
which  a  man  is  liable  at  an 3^  time,  and  under  an}-  circum- 
stances, to  be  judged. 

The  duties  and  labors  consequent  upon  the  publication 
of  his  paper  did  not  prevent  Mr.  Cobb  from  laboring  in  the 
Temperance  field  as  before.  He  was  of  course  obliged  to 
relinquish  his  agency  of  the  Middlesex  County  Society ; 
but  instead  of  his  usefulness  being  diminished  it  was  rather 
augmented,  for  not  only  did  his  paper,  with  its  healthy 
Temperance  doctrines,  find  its  way  into  families  all  over 
the  land,  but  he  was  able  to  extend  his  circuit.  He  did 
not  confine  his  labors  to  the  rostrum.  It  was  his  custom, 
and  his  pleasure,  to  visit  families  where  he  thought  his 
words  of  warning  or  of  cheer  would  be  productive  of  good  ; 
and  he  also  visited  those  engaged  in  the  traffic  in  spirit- 
uous beverages,  endeavoring  to  win  them  over  to  a  better 
life  by  reason  and  argument ;  and  I  know  that  in  several 
instances  he  was  the  direct  means  of  the  quiet  closing  of 
bars  where  the  death-dealing  poison  had  been  sold.  Dur- 
ing his  long  term  of  service  in  the  Temperance  field  he  was 
more  than  once  threatened  with  personal  violence  by  those 
who  fancied  he  was  infringing  upon  their  liberties  ;  but 
30* 


354  JiEV.    SYLVAXirS     COBB,    D.D. 

never  a  hand  was  laid  upon  him,  and  never  a  successful 
attempt  made  to  interrupt  him  while  speaking.  "When 
there  chanced  to  be  any  show  of  unmannerly  obtrusion  by 
the  rum  influence  through  its  unfortunate  devotees,  as  was 
sometimes  the  case,  he  generally  managed  to  turn  the  bat- 
tery a'gainst  those  who  had  brought  it  upon  the  field. 

One  instance  of  the  kind  which  occurred  about  tliirt}^- 
three  years  ago,  I  will  relate. 

Mr.  Cobb  had  been  announced  to  deliver  a  lecture  on 
Temperance  in  a  town  not  far  from  Lowell,  and  as  it  was 
known  that  he  was  a  strong  pleader  for  the  establishment 
of  such  laws  as  were  needed  to  protect  society  against  the 
evil,  the  rummies  had  reason  to  fear  his  influence.  They 
did  not  object  to  the  lecturing  of  those  who  were  content  to 
let  the  rum-traffic  have  the  protection  of  the  statutes  ;  but 
they  liked  not  the  idea  of  having  their  business  branded  by 
legal  enactments,  so  they  thought  it  would  be  good  policy 
to  "  choke  oflf"  this  lecturer.  One  of  their  number  made 
his  boast  that  he  would  "  shut  Mr.  Cobb's  mouth  so  that 
he  could  not  speak,"  and  a  number  of  his  friends  were  pres- 
ent to  witness  the  fun. 

Now  it  so  happened  that  the  man  who  had  made  this 
boast  was  one  who,  when  free  from  rum,  was  industrious 
and  kind-hearted,  and  who,  moreover,  had  a  respectable 
share  of  pride  in  his  composition.  On  the  evening  in  ques- 
tion he  entered  the  meeting-house,  where  the  lecture  was  to 
be  given,  and  took  his  position  in  one  of  the  side  aisles, 
about  midway  between  the  door  and  the  pulpit.  He  was 
well-dressed,  and  would  have  had  the  appearance  of  a  gen- 
tleman had  it  not  been  for  the  flushed  face  and  unsteady 
mien  which  betrayed  the  domination  of  the  old  tyrant  al- 
cohol. 

Mr.  Cobb,  as  was  his  habit,  swept  his  eye  over  his  audi- 


THE   MEMOIR,  355 

ence  as  he  arose,  to  mark  the  spirit  with  which  he  was  to 
be  received.  He  had  been  so  long  in  the  field,  and  had  had 
so  much  experience  in  reading  the  character  of  an  assembly 
at  a  glance,  that  he  seldom  failed  to  discover  the  where- 
abouts and  intent  of  enemies,  if  any  such  were  present. 
Almost  the  first  thing  that  attracted  his  attention  was  the 
man  standing  in  the  aisle,  and  in  a  moment  more  he  dis- 
covered a  pew  full  of  red-faced  men  who  seemed  to  be  look- 
ing to  this  individual  as  though  for  approaching  sport.  He 
saw  it  all  while  yet  he  was  making  his  introductory  re- 
marks, and  with  shrewd  judgment  he  calculated  about  what 
sort  of  force  he  had  better  hold  in  reserve  to  meet  the  exi- 
gency if  it  should  arise. 

The  lecturer  commenced,  and  ere  he  had  proceeded  far 
the  man  in  the  aisle  raised  his  voice  to  dispute  one  of  the 
speaker's  statements,  upon  which  Mr.  Cobb  simply  repeat- 
ed the  statement,  and  went  on.  Again,  and  again,  did  the 
intruder  interrupt  the  lecture,  finally  using  language  vulgar 
and  abusive,  whereat  the  red-faced  men  in  the  pew  were 
greatly  delighted.  At  length  two  gentlemen  arose,  and 
started  towards  the  abusive  interloper  for  the  purpose  of 
removing  him,  and  as  this  movement  was  made  there  was 
considerable  excitement  among  the  female  portion  of  the 
audience  in  anticipation  of  trouble. 

At  this  juncture  Mr.  Cobb,  with  one  of  those  efforts 
which  never  failed,  commanded  silence,  and  in  a  moment 
all  eyes  were  turned  upon  him  to  see  what  he  would  do  ; 
and  while  the  audience,  rummies  and  all,  were  on  the  qui 
mve  to  know  what  would  be  the  result,  he  raised  his  hand 
towards  the  gentlemen  who  had  started  to  put  the  annoy- 
ance out,  and,  with  a  pleasant  smile,  and  in  a  tone  of  hu- 
morous honesty,  he  said,  — 

"  Gentlemen,  I  hope  you  will  not  deprive  us  of  the  help 


BoG  JtEF.    SYLVAN  us     COBB,   D.D. 

which  our  opposing  friends  have  inadvertently  lent  us. 
The  surgeon,  when  lecturing  to  his  class  on  the  science  of 
anatomy,  finds  it  very  convenient  to  have  a  subject  upon 
which  to  demonstrate  the  lessons  he  would  enforce.  So  we 
have  before  us  a  living  subject,  and  if  3'ou  will  give  j^our 
attention  you  will  see  it  practically  demonstrated  how  rum 
can  abuse  those  who  use  it  as  a  beverage." 

At  the  close  of  these  remarks  all  eyes  were  turned  from 
the  speaker  to  the  *'  living  subject,"  and  that  misguided  in- 
dividual, totally  unable  to  bear  the  gaze  of  so  man}^  and 
feeling  that  he  had  suffered  himself  to  be  led  into  a  position 
of  disgrace  and  humiliation,  shrank  down  as  far  out  of 
sight  as  possible,  and  during  the  remainder  of  the  lecture 
was  one  of  the  most  attentive  listeners. 

The  demonstrative  "  subject "  was  withdrawn,  but  the 
episode  proved  a  happy  one  to  both  the  lecturer  and  his 
audience,  and  much  good  resulted  from  it.  And  it  is  safe 
to  conclude  that  the  hero  of  that  occasion  never  afterwards 
attempted  to  "  shut  up  the  mouth  "  of  a  temperance  lec- 
turer. 

"What  Mr.  Cobb  might  have  done  if  an  opponent  had 
attempted  to  lay  violent  hands  upon  him  I  cannot  say.  I 
saw  him  once,  when  he  was  in  his  prime,  and  his  muscles 
all  in  tune,  cast  a  vicious  horse  upon  the  ground  as  I  would 
have  shaken  off  a  troublesome  child.  But  I  can  say  that 
the  man  who  thought  to  overcome  him  by  any  strategy  of 
debate  or  indecent  interruption,  assumed  a  task  not  easy 
of  accomplishment. 

In  taking  a  survey  of  the  results  of  Mr.  Cobb's  labors  in 
the  Temperance  field  we  shall  find  that  there  are  men  who 
have  induced  more  signers  to  the  Pledge  than  has  he  ;  and 
so  there  are  men  who  have  created  more  enthusiasm  for 
the  hour,   and  called  more  hearers  to  hang  upon  the  elo- 


THE   MEMOIR.  357 

quence  of  their  lips,  and  listen  to  their  quaint  sayings  and 
startling  anecdotes.  There  are  men  who,  coming  up  them- 
selves from  the  dreadful  pit,  ha,ve  been  able  to  picture  the 
evil  as  he  could  not  picture  it,  and  lead  old  companions  up 
from  their  slough  by  a  bond  of  sympathy  which  he  could 
not  reach.  But  I  think  no  man  has  done  more  towards 
educating  the  people  up  to  a  proper  understanding  of  the 
great  principles  involved,  and  in  leading  them  to  a  safe 
and  healthy  stand-point.  In  short,  for  the  blessing  of  that 
mighty  power  which  bears  down  upon  Intemperance  through 
the  ballot-box  society  is  indebted  to  no  man  more  than  to 
Sylvanus  Cobb. 


358  r^EV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,   D.D. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Mr.   Cobb   in  his    Sanctum,  —  Visit  to  a  Great-great 
Uncle,  —  Retrospective. 

Mr.  Cobb  was  now  fairly  at  work  as  a  publisher  and 
editor,  and  from  the  issuing  of  his  Prospectus,  in  1839,  to 
the  close  of  his  editorial  labors,  he  left  no  stone  unturned 
beneath  which  could  be  found  anything  that  might  be 
worked  up  for  the  moral,  social,  religious,  or  intellectual 
benefit  of  his  patrons.  He  had  not  only  travelled  exten- 
sively over  the  country,  and  seen  the  wants  of  our  denom- 
ination touching  information  upon  the  stirring  topics  of  the 
day ;  but  he  had  also  made  himself  acquainted  with  the 
tastes  and  desires  of  the  youthful  members  of  the  commu- 
nity, as  well  as  with  the  likes  and  fancies  of  the  children. 
So,  in  making  up  his  paper,  he  took  under  consideration 
all  these  various  needs,  and  governed  himself  accordingly. 
The  result  was  that  the  Christian  Freeman  soon  became  a 
pleasant  and  cherished  visiter  to  the  family ;  and  there 
were  cases  where  the  head  of  a  family  would  propose  to 
stop  it  on  account  of  its  Temperance  or  Anti-Slavery  fea- 
tures, when  the  wife  and  children  stepped  in  to  oppose  the 
giving  up  of  so  pleasant  and  entertaining  a  companion. 

Many  of  those  friends  who  professed,  and  probably  felt, 
a  deep  interest  in  Mr.  Cobb's  pecuniary  welfare,  advised 
him  to  give  up  his  advocacy  of  these  peculiar  reforms  ;  but 
he  had  no  disposition  to  profit  by  such  counsel.     His  posi- 


THE   MEMOIR.  359 

tion  had  been  taken  ;  with  humble  recognition  of  his  (\\xiy 
to  God  and  to  his  fellowmen,  he  firmly  believed  that  he 
was  right ;  and  no  consideration  of  self-interest  could  be 
presented  strong  enough  to  swerve  him  from  the  course 
which  his  sense  of  Right  and  Justice  had  dictated,  and  to 
which  the  holiest  instincts  of  his  heart  gave  sanction. 

During  the  year  1840,  and  the  first  months  of  the  suc- 
ceeding 3'ear,  Mr.  Cobb  labored  zealously  for  his  paper, 
travelling  much  over  the  countrj^,  lecturing  and  preaching, 
and  obtaining  subscribers.  I  can  remember  that  he  was 
upon  the  move  continually,  and  by  reference  to  his  Journal 
I  find  that  he  was  hard  at  work  all  the  time.  He  knew  not 
what  it  was  to  be  idle,  for  both  his  natural  inclinations  and 
his  necessities  kept  him  busy.  His  paper,  though  its  cir- 
culation was  quite  extensive,  was  not  3'et  self-sustaining ; 
or,  at  all  events,  it  yielded  yet  not  a  penny  for  the  support 
of  himself  and  family,  so  he  was  forced  to  work  early  and 
late  —  to  work  wherever  and  whenever  he  could.  He  pub- 
lished his  paper  upon  the  credit  plan,  and  he  was  furnish- 
ing hundreds  of  papers  every  week  for  which  he  had  re- 
ceived no  pay.  As  he  entered  upon  the  second  year  he 
found  numerous  patrons  neglecting  him  —  taking  his  paper 
to  their  families,  and  enjoying  its  freight  of  good  things, 
but  forgetting  to  pay  up.  Mr.  Careless,  of  Notown,  knew 
that  he  had  entered  upon  an  unpaid  term  ;  but  the  amount 
due  from  him  was  only  two  dollars,  and  that  could  not 
amount  to  much  either  way, —  paid,  or  unpaid.  But  the  pub- 
lisher had  to  pay  the  paper-maker  every  week  ;  or,  at  least, 
every  month  ;  and  also  the  help  in  the  office  had  to  be  paid. 
He  wanted  five  hundred  dollars  which  he  did  not  possess  ;  he 
needed  it,  and  have  it  he  must.  Now  by  referring  to  his 
books  he  finds  that  there  are,  even  in  this  second  year,  five 
or  six  hundred  of  these  Messrs.  Careless,  owing  him,  in 


360  REV.    STLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

the  aggregate,  over  a  thousand  doHars.  AVhat  shall  he  do? 
They  are  scattered  all  over  New  England,  and  he  can 
reach  them  only  through  his  paper.  AVh}- — he  must  do 
the  best  he  can.  He  must  not  offend  his  patrons  by  too 
frequent  duns ;  so  be  must  borrow  to  meet  an  emergency, 
and  then  drive  off  upon  a  lecturing  tour ;  and  he  must 
remain  out,  too,  until  he  has  earned  money  enough  to  help 
him  over  the  trouble. 

In  the  Autumn  of  1840  Mr.  Cobb  visited  the  place 
where  his  ancestors  first  found  a  home  upon  this  side  of  the 
ocean,  and  as  the  visit  was  one  of  peculiar  interest  to  him, 
and  cannot  fail  of  interesting  the  reader,  I  copy  his  account 
thereof  from  the  Freeman  of  Nov.  20th,  1840  :  — 

"Last  Sunda,y  I  had  the  privilege  of  jDreaching  in  Kingston, 
Mass.,  the  land  of  my  forefathers.  Here  I  met  with  a  goodly 
number  of  intelligent  and  practical  believers  in  the  great  salva- 
tion; and  Ave  had  happy  meetings.  After  the  afternoon  meet- 
ing, I  called  at  the  ancient  mansion,  which  was  the  residence 
of  my  great-great-uncle,  Ebenezer  Cobb,  who  lived  to  be  nearly 
a  hundred  and  eight  years  old.  I  had  heard,  from  my  parents 
and  others,  so  much  said  of  the  old  patriarch,  that  my  visit  to 
the  mansion  he-  inhabited  was  attended  with  sensations  similar 
to  what  would  be  excited  in  Christian  pilgrims  on  visiting  the 
scenes  celebrated  in  Scripture  history. 

"  The  old  gentleman  was  celebrated  for  his  cheerful  piety ;  and 
several  anecdotes  of  him  illustrate  his  cheerfulness  of  disposi- 
tion. On  his  hundredth  birthday,  he  had  a  sermon  preached  at 
his  house,  called  his  Century  Sermon.  Mr.  Willis,  who,  I 
believe,  is  yet  living,  was  minister  in  Kingston  at  the  time,  —  but 
he  being  quite  young,  it  was  thought  by  the  sons,  some  of  whom 
were  nearly  eighty  years  old,  that  it  would  be  more  suitable  to 
get  Parson  Robbins,  of  Plymouth,  the  old  gentleman's  former 
minister,  to  preach  the  Century  Sermon.  This  they  did.  After- 
wards the  young  parson  Willis  gave  some  intimation  that  he  had 
expected  to  be  called  upon  for  that  service.  '  Well,  well,'  said 
the  old  man,  'it  was  my  boys'  doing.     But  never  mind;  when  I 


THE   MEMOIR.  361 

have  my  next  Centur}'  Sermon  preached,  yon  shall  be  called 
upon.' 

"He  had  been  blind  for  some  time,  thongh  his  bodily  health 
was  good.  He  walked  out  with  the  company  after  the  services, 
and  remarked  with  much  sang  froid,  '  I  cannot  see  an  honest 
man  among  you  all.' 

*'  It  was  common  in  these  days  to  associate  much  gloom  with 
religion,  and  religionists  were  prone  to  put  on  a  melancholy 
tone  in  conversing  with  old  people,  who  were  nigh  the  tomb.  A 
young  preacher  called  upon  the  old  man,  and  in  a  doleful  pitch 
of  voice  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  dying.  He,  not  well 
relishing  such  airs,  familiarly  rejplied,  '  It  is  seldom  that  a  man 
of  my  age  dies.' 

*' When  the  minister  of  the  place  was,  on  a  Lord's  day,  cat- 
echising the  children  after  the  meeting,  and  had  made  progress 
in  the  old  Primer  lesson  which  begins  with,  '  Who  is  the  first 
man  ? '  as  he  came  at  length  to  a  little  girl  with  the  question, 
'  Who  was  the  oldest  man.f^'  she  j^ertly  answered,  '  Gran'ther 
Cobb.'  The  risibles  of  the  minister  were  so  excited  by  the 
answer,  that  he  could  not  correct  her,  and  he  let  it  pass. 

"  I  was  happy  to  find  the  old  homestead  in  the  hand  and  occu- 
pancy of  the  direct  descendants,  being  grandchildren,  one  of 
whom  was  thirty  years  of  age  when  the  old  saint  died,  which 
was  about  forty  years  ago.  They  conducted  me  into  '  the  great 
room '  in  which  the  Century  Sermon  was  preached,  pointed  out 
the  spot  where  the  Parson  stood,  and  the  way  in  which  the  com- 
pany with  the  patriarch  took  their  walk.  I  was  interested  also 
with  examining  a  relic  of  antiquity,  a  large  chest,  with  much 
panel  and  carved  work,  brought  from  England  by  m3^  forefather, 
six  generations  back,  who  came  over  in  the  next  vessel  that 
came  after  the  Mayflower. 

*'I  find  in  Kingston  much  of  that  true  politeness  which  is 
found  in  the  simple  and  friendl}^  j)uritanic  manners.  And  the 
gospel  of  God's  boundless  love,  so  congenial  with  the  friendly 
and  peaceable  mind,  is  making  advances  among  them  to  do 
them  good." 

Among  the  sources  of  satisfaction  and  comfort  which 
were  Mr.  Cobb's  to  enjoy  in  the  midst  of   his    arduous 
labors,  none  were  more  inspiring  than  were  the  items  of 
31 


362  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

intelligence  that  came  to  him  from  various  quarters,  of  the 
growth  and  prosperity  of  the  denomination  which  he  so 
fondly  loved,  and  to  the  upbuilding  of  Avhich  he  had 
devoted  so  much  of  his  time  and  strength.  In  the  month 
of  March,  1841,  looking  back  over  the  years  he  had  spent 
in  Massachusetts,  he  made  the  following  entry  in  his 
Journal : — 

"When  we  came  into  this  State,  and  settled  in  Maiden,  thir- 
teen years  ago  next  month,  the  old  Orthodox  parish  in  that 
town,  being  at  that  time  converted  to  a  Universalist  society, 
there  was  hardly  another  Universalist  society  in  the  Common- 
wealth, having  a  Meeting-house  and  constant  preaching,  except- 
ing one  in  Haverhill,  two  in  Gloucester,  one  in  Salem,  one  in 
Charlestown,  three  in  Boston,  one  in  Cambridgeport,  one  in 
Roxbury,  and  one  in  Lowell.  Since  then  there  have  been 
Meeting-houses  built,  and  constant  worshi^^  established,  as  fol- 
lows: one  in  Woburn,  one  in  Medford,  one  in  South  Reading, 
one  in  Andover,  one  in  Marblehead,  one  in  Essex,  one  in  New- 
buryport,  two  in  Danvers,  two  in  Lynn,  two  in  Boston,  one  in 
Quincy,  one  in  Weymouth,  one  in  Hingham,  one  in  Hyannis, 
one  in  Brewster,  one  in  New  Bedford,  one  in  Waltham,  one  in 
Holliston,  one  inFramingham,  one  in  Marlborough,  one  in  West 
Cambridge,  one  in  East  Cambridge,  one  in  Methuen,  one  in  East 
Lexington,  one  in  Concord,  one  in  Spencer,  one  in  Barre,  one  in 
Petersham,  one  in  Stoneham,  one  in  Lowell,  one  in  Wrentham. 
These  we  have  put  down  upon  a  hasty  run  of  the  mind  over 
the  State,  doubtless  missing  some  new  houses  where  constant 
worship  is  supported.  Then  there  are  many  places  where, 
within  the  above-mentioned  time.  Meeting-houses  formerly  occu- 
pied by  other  sects,  have  fallen  into  the  persuasion  of  Univer- 
salists,  where  constant  preaching  is  enjoyed,  and  where  new 
Meeting-houses  have  been  built  by  newly  gathered  societies, 
who  have  the  preached  word  a  portion  of  the  time,  and  where 
societies  have  been  raised,  who  have  not  a  Meeting-house,  but 
worship  a  portion  or  all  of  the  time  in  some  place  temporarily 
engaged  for  the  purpose.  Besides,  two  of  the  old  societies  first 
named  have  torn  down  their  old  Meeting-houses,  and  built  new 
ones,  several  have  remodelled  their  places  of  worship  at  con- 
siderable expense.     And  our  societies  are  generaliv  in  a  moj-^ 


THE   MEMOIR.  363 

active  and  flourishiug  condition  than  the  few,  even,  were  for- 
merly in. 

"  Yet  there  are  some  whose  ears  are  very  pleasiirably  tickled 
by  hearing  statements  from  certain  pulpit  declaimers,  of  what 
nobody  believes,  that  Universalism  is  fast  declining ! !  When 
will  they  cease  to  '  glory  in  their  own  shame  ?  ' " 

Surely  his  labor  was  bearing  fruit,  not  only  in  the 
denominational  field,  but  in  other  fields  upon  the  soil  of 
which  he  had  cast  good  seed.  And  so  he  labored  on, 
cheerfully  and  hopefully.  The  times  were  coming,  he 
thought,  when  he  should  be  able  to  sit  down  and  rest.  It 
was  bard  then ;  but  it  could  not  be  always  so.  He  saw 
gleams  in  the  horizon  which  told  to  him  of  the  coming  of 
a  brighter  day  —  a  day  in  which  he  should  be  called  to  toil 
onl}^  for  the  love  he  bore  his  fellowmen  —  when  the  toil- 
ings  of  the  other  years  should  have  yielded  him  a  compe- 
tence, enabling  him  to  render  cheerful  and  inviting  the 
patriarchal  home  where  his  loved  ones  should  find  always 
sweet  rest  and  refuge  while  thej^  lived.     Home  was  to  him 

******  tiig  sphere  of  harmony  and  peace, 
The  spot  where  angels  find  a  resting-place, 
When,  bearing  blessings,  they  descend  to  earth." 

A  blessing  to  him,  in  those  days  of  labor  and  trial,  was 
the  hope  that  sustained  and  led  him  on ;  and  I  doubt  if 
there  are  man}^  men  who  enjoy  more  in  the  realization  of 
hope's  full  fruition  than  was  his  to  enjoy  in  the  anticipa- 
tion. It  made  him  buoyant  and  strong,  for  every  blow  he 
struck  was  towards  a  cherished  purpose. 

"  Hope,  of  all  passions,  most  befriends  us  here; 
Passions  of  prouder  name  befriend  us  less. 
Joy  has  her  tears;  and  transport  has  her  death; 
Hope,  like  a  cordial,  innocent  though  strong, 


364  JtEF.  SYLVAXiTs   conn,  d.d. 

Man's  heart  at  onco  inspirits,  and  serenes; 
Nor  makes  bim  pay  bis  wisdom  for  bis  joys; 
'Tis  all  our  present  state  can  safely  bear, 
Health  to  the  frame,  and  vigor  to  the  mind  ! 
A  joy  attcmper'd  !  —  a  cbastis'd  delight ! 
Like  the  fair  summer  ev'ning,  mild  and  sweet  ! 
'Tis  man's  full  cup;  his  paradise  below  !  " 


THE  MEMOIR.  365 


CHAPTER   Vn. 

Removal  to  East  Boston, — The  "Castle  of  Peace," 
— The  Bath-Hotjse, — Its  Story, — Ups  and  Downs  of 
the  Society,  —  Sunday  School, — A  Glance  at  the 
Inner  Man. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1841,  and  towards  the  close 
of  the  second  volume  of  the  Christian  Freesian,  Mr.  Cobb 
made  up  his  miud  that  it  would  be  for  his  interest  to  re- 
move from  Waltham,  and  take  up  his  abode  in  Boston, 
where,  in  the  time  to  come,  must  of  necessity  be  the  centre 
of  his  business  area  as  a  publisher.  That  "  New  House  " 
had  never  been  wholly  paid  for,  and  the  thought  that  such 
a  debt  hung  upon  him,  the  payment  of  which  must  swallow 
up  money  that  ought  to  be  used  for  the  advancement  of 
the  interest  of  his  paper,  w^orried  him  more  than  he  was 
ever  willing  to  confess.  In  fact,  he  never  confessed  to  any- 
thing's  worrjing  him  ;  but  those  who  loved  him,  and  sym- 
pathized with  him,  could  plainl}^  see  w^hen  these  unpleasant 
burdens  weighed  upon  him  ;  for  there  are  certain  involun- 
tary muscles  underlying  the  delicate  integument  of  the  face 
which  will  respond  to  the  action  of  care  upon  the  mind  in 
spitQ  of  all  a  man  may  do  to  conceal  it.  The  human  face 
may  well  be  termed  "  a  mirror  of  the  soul,"  for  every  man 
possessing  a  living  soul,  in  which  great  emotions  find  birth, 
must,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  look  the  things  he  feels. 

The  Freeman  prospered  —  perhaps  as  much  as  its  pub- 
81* 


366  REV.    SYLVANUS     CGBB,    D.D. 

lisber  had   anticipated  ;  but  in  another  quarter  his  antici- 
pations were  not  realized,  of  which  I  will  speak  presently. 
In  his  issue  of  March  19th,   1841,  Mr.  Cobb  speaks  to 
his  patrons  as  follows  :  — 

^  *♦  We  have  concluded  to  remove  our  Printing  Office  into  Bos- 
ton, and  to  take  up  our  residence  in  that  city,  about  the  time  of 
the  commencement  of  the  third  volume  of  the  Christian  Free- 
man, which  will  be  the  first  of  May  next. 

*'  Several  considerations  have  concurred  to  determine  us  to 
this  step.  1.  As  the  list  of  our  patrons,  and  consequently  the 
business  of  publication,  is  increased,  we  find  a  growing  incon- 
venience in  having  our  residence,  and  our  press,  so  far  from  our 
city  office.  2.  We  are  quite  sure  that  we  can  increase  the  value 
of  the  paper  by  having  it  published  in  the  city,  and  residing 
there.  3.  Many  of  our  esteemed  friends  who  feel  an  interest  for 
the  prosperity  of  our  enterprise,  for  the  sake  of  the  common 
cause,  have  expressed  a  desire  for  such  an  arrangement.  4. 
The  new,  and  the  present  growing  Society  in  East  Boston,  de- 
sire us  to  five  and  labor  with  them  in  word  and  doctrine.     *     * 

"  The  change  here  announced  will  include  an  entirely  new  con- 
tract for  the  publication,  and  it  hereby  becomes  indispensably 
necessary  that  we  should  settle  up  all  old  affairs,  to  be  able  to  do 
"vvhich  we  must  receive  all  arreages  on  our  paper.  It  is  earnest- 
ly requested  that  all  subscribers  who  owe  for  the  past  or  current 
volume,  or  both,  should  send  in  their  due  immediately.  Breth- 
ren, do  not  wait  to  have  your  bills  sent;  you  know  what  is  due. 
Send  it  on,  and  it  shall  be  faithfully  put  in  order  on  our  books. 
If  you  have  not  an  oiDportunity  to  send  by  private  hand,  get 
your  Postmaster  to  forward  it.  Where  it  is  more  convenient, 
pay  to  our  Agent  in  your  respective  towns.  Agents  will  prompt- 
ly forward  this  business  of  collection,  &c. 

"  ^^  Let  us  be  able  to  say  to  the  world  in  a  few  weeks,  that  all 
the  Subscribers  to  the  Christian  Freeman  and  Family  Visiter, 
are  PAYING  SUBSCRIBERS." 

I  have  reproduced  this  appeal  of  Mr.  Cobb  to  his  sub- 
scribers, in  connection  with  the  notice  of  his  intended  re- 
moval, for  the  purpose  of  offering  a  few  remarks  upon  the 


THE   MEMOIR.  367 

subject  of  those  anticipations  of  his  which  had  not  been 
realized.  This  was  the  first  instance,  I  believe,  in  which 
he  had  made  an  earnest  appeal  to  his  subscribers  to  pay 
up.  In  arranging  his  business,  and  making  his  expendi- 
tures, he  had  based  his  calculations  upon  the  supposition 
that  those  who  took  his  paper  would  pay  him  for  it.  In 
taking  a  careful  survey  of  the  field,  and  comparing  his  ex- 
penses with  his  resources,  he  found  that,  if  his  subscribers 
exercised  towards  him  an}i;hing  of  the  spirit  of  the  Golden 
Eule,  he  should  come  out  all  square  at  the  end  of  the  year. 
He  could  sell  his  comfortable  house  in  TValtham,  together 
with  the  twelve-acre  lot,  for  just  about  enough  to  make  him 
square  with  the  world,  leaving  him  the  possessor  of  his 
household  furniture  and  clothing,  and  just  material  enough 
of  books,  and  types,  and  cases,  and  presses,  to  enable  him 
to  get  out  his  paper.  He  had  paid  in  part  for  his  house  ; 
but  more  than  that  had  been  swallowed  up  by  the  publica- 
tion of  the  Fkeeman,  so  that  when  he  came  to  receive  the 
price  for  his  real  estate,  and  had  paid  his  debts,  he  had  not 
a  penny  left  which  he  could  appropriate  to  the  building  or 
purchase  of  another  habitation.  In  fact,  a  combination  of 
circumstances  conspired  to  render  his  pecuniary  situation 
at  that  time  anything  but  pleasant. 

And  now,  ye  delinquent  subscribers  —  men  of  means  and 
of  ability  —  whom  Mr.  Cobb  so  earnestly  entreated  to  come 
up  to  the  line  of  simple  duty  and  justice,  and  pay  the  pal- 
try sums 'you  owed,  do  yoM  know  that  the  only  real  cloud 
that  ever  settled  down,  dark  and  chilling,  over  his  life,  arose 
from  your  neglect  ?  Do  you  know  how  many  da3^s,  and 
weeks,  and  months,  of  anxiety  and  unrest  you  gave  him  ? 
If  you  do  not,  I  can  tell  you.  First,  I  tell  you  truly,  had 
you  paid  him  promptly  for  the  papers  he  sent  you  he  would 
have  been  relieved  from  all  trouble  in  the  management  of 


368  liEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,   D.D. 

his  business.  Had  the  money  from  his  subscribers,  when 
due,  been  forwarded  through  the  mail,  or  by  the  hand  of 
some  friend  coming  to  Boston,  he  could  have  sat  quietly 
and  peacefully  at  his  desk,  throwing  all  his  energy  into  his 
paper ;  but  you  did  not  so  bless  him  ;  you  neglected  him, 
and  he  suffered.  When  he  should  have  been  resting  from 
labor,  he  was  at  work  the  hardest.  Here  comes  a  note,  in 
bank,  due  to-day.  He  borrows  of  a  friend,  hoping  that  ere 
the  week  is  out  remittances  enough  will  come  in  to  enable 
him  to  meet  it.  The  week  passes,  and  the  remittances  do 
not  come.  Then  he  goes  to  a  broker  and  hires  the  money 
to  refund  what  he  had  borrowed  of  his  friend  ;  and  then  he 
drives  away  over  the  country  to  collect  of  his  subscribers, 
—  two  dollars  here,  and  two  dollars  there,  and  elsewhere 
two  more,  —  and  so  on,  over  a  wide  territory,  to  scrape  to- 
gether the  needed  sum.     Sometimes  luck  would  be  against 

him.     Stopping   at  L ,  or   at  S ,  he  looks  at  his 

pocket  memorandum,  and  finds  that  on  the  second  or  third 
da}^  from  that  another  note  in  bank  becomes  due.  To  col- 
lect the  amount  is  impossible ;  protest  he  must  not  allow. 


promises  to  return  in  one  or  two  weeks.  And  in  the  end, 
worn  and  weary,  he  reaches  his  home,  and  the  prospect 
before   him  has  not  grown  much  brighter.     The  friend  in 

L must  be  paid,  and  the  money  coming  in  by  mail  will 

not  more  than  paj^  the  help.  One  more  appeal  to  the  de- 
linquents ! 

"  O  !  if  my  subscribers  would  but  pay  me  what  they 
owe,  how  happy  I  should  be  !  "  So  utters  the  perplexed 
editor,  in  travail  of  soul ;  and  he  wonders  how  it  would 
seem  to  have  those  who  were  indebted  to  him,  all  pay  him. 
But  he  has  no  time,  nor  has  he  the  disposition  to  repine. 
He  must  down  at  his  desk,  and  write  his  editorials ;  and 


THE   MEMOIM.  369 

in  order  that  this  maybe  done  well,  all  perplexing  thoughts 
must  be  driven  from  his  mind. 

And  here  we  have  a  glimpse  at  the  only  source  whence 
ever  arose  even  a  whisper  of  just  complaint  against  any 
thought  or  act  of  Mr.  Cobb's  life.  Why  may  I  not  speak 
of  it,  and  speak  of  it  frankly  and  freel}^,  now  that  we  have 
it  directly  before  us  ? 

Bills  that  must  be  paid  come  crowding  in,  and  the  friend 

in  L does  not  get  his  money  until  a  month  has  passed, 

and  perhaps  a  longer  time.     And  the  friend  in  L is  not 

the  only  case  of  the  kind.  His  is  a  representative  case.  — 
Had  it  been  an  ordinary  business-man  who  had  neglected 
thus  to  pay  a  debt  —  especially  of  borrowed  money  —  not 
so  much  would  have  been  thought  of  it ;  but  for  a  clergy- 
man —  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  —  thus  to  do,  is  deemed 
very  strange,  and  various  remarks  are  made  thereon. 

Ministers  are  never  judged  by  the  world  upon  a  plane 
with  other  men.  They  are  held  in  a  "  cross  light,"  as  it 
were,  and  specks  are  discovered  and  marked  which  would 
have  remained  unnoticed  in  the  character  of  another.  And, 
moreover,  in  this  unfair  light  not  only  are  these  tiny  motes 
rendered  palpable  to  sight,  but  small  errors  seem  large, 
while  large  ones  become  distorted  into  monstrous  propor- 
tions. 

But  enough  of  this.  The  good  man  has  gone,  and  on  all 
the  earth  he  has  not  left  a  man  unpaid  to  whom  he  justly 
owed  anything.  Judge  him  ye  who  will,  in  what  light 
pleasethyqubest,  and  ye  shall  find  nothing  laid  up  against 
him. 

But  O,  ye  delinquent  subscribers !  How  shall  ye  be 
judged?  What  balm  of  healing  can  reach  your  souls?  — 
what  excuse  have  yo,  to  offer  ?  How  can  you  undo  what  you 
have  done  ?  —  how  do  that  which  ye  neglected  to  do  in  the 


370  REV.    SYLVANUS     CODB^    D.I). 

day  Avhcn  sore  need  pressed  hard  upon  him  whom  you  owed, 
and  whose  heart  might  have  been  made  to  leap  with  joy  had 
ye  but  given  to  him  of  your  abundance  the  simple  sums 
that  were  your  dues  ? 

Mr.  Cobb  moved  with  his  family  to  East  Boston  early  in 
Ma}^,  renting  a  house  in  "  Locke's  Block,"  on  Sumner  St., 
which  he  occupied  three  years,  when  he  removed  to  a  large, 
new  house,  on  the  corner  of  Webster  St.  and  Belmont 
Square,  which  he  had  erected  for  himself.  The  location 
was  one  of  the  finest  on  the  Island,  commanding  a  view 
of  the  harbor,  with  its  islands  and  distant  shores,  and  also 
overlooking  most  of  the  territory  of  the  Island  itself.  In 
this  enterprise  he  was  more  fortunate  than  he  had  been 
with  the  building  enterprise  at  Waltham.  He  obtained  the 
land  at  a  very  cheap  rate,  having  two  good  house-lots  left 
after  he  had  erected  his  own  dwelling,  which  in  time  he 
sold  at  an  advance  of  some  two  hundred  per  cent,  over  the 
price  he  had  paid.  And  this  was  his  home  ;  and  when  he 
had  become  settled  in  it,  and  had  fully  assured  himself 
that  it  was  his  own,  only  to  be  taken  from  him  by  some 
event  beyond  his  power  to  control,  he  planted  here  his 
vines,  and  set  up  his  household  gods,  being  determined 
that  upon  this  pleasant  and  attractive  spot  his  "  hours  at 
home  "  should  be  spent  for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  And 
his  plan  was  realized.      In  this  "  Castle  of  Peace  "*  he 

*  The  dwelling  of  Mr.  Cobb  received  this  appellation  at  an  early  day,  and  dur- 
ing the  later  years  of  his  life,  when  his  children  had  grown  up,  and  were  often 
gathered  beneath  the  old  roof-tree  with  their  children,  there  came  to  be  some- 
thing of  solemn  and  happy  significance  in  the  name,  and  by  such  it  was  generally 
known  and  designated  among  a  wide  circle  of  friends  and  acquaintances.  It 
originated  as  follows :  One  bright,  moonlight  evening,  while  residing  in  Mai- 
den, Mr.  Cobb's  theological  students  held  a  meeting  under  the  giant  Sycamore  in 
the  door-yard,  and  dedicated  the  dwelling  of  their  teacher,  consecrating  it  to  the 
Genius  of  the  Domestic  Virtues,  and  bestowing  upon  it  the  title  —  "  Castle  of 
Peace."  As  this  testimonial  name  was  a  tribute  to  the  household  rather  than 
to  the  mere  house  which  had  been  built  with  hands,  Mr.  Cobb  bore  it  with  him 


THE   MEMOIR.  371 

found  a  home  during  twenty-two  years  ;  and  they  were 
years  crowded  with  the  most  stu'ring  and  eventful  labors 
of  his  long  and  useful  career. 

The  Society  at  East  Boston  was  young  and  small ;  but 
there  were  warm  hearts  and  willing  hands,  and  Mr.  Cobb 
took  hold  with  them,  willing  to  labor,  and  share  with  them 
the  work  of  building  up.  There  were  some  genial  spirits 
in  the  gathering,  and  the  seasons  of  social  intercourse  were 
refreshing  in  the  extreme.  When  the  Island  was  hardly 
yet  thought  of  as  a  place  of  settlement  for  business  men,  a 
large  and  commodious  hotel,  called  the"  Maverick  House," 
had  been  erected  as  a  summer  resort,  and  a  healthful  board- 
ing-place for  those  who  might  wish  to  avail  themselves  of 
a  transient  home  of  the  kind  so  near  to  the  city.  Connected 
with  this  hotel  had  been  constructed  a  house  for  bathing 
purposes  ;  but  as  the  business  of  the  establishment  did  not 
long  require  the  bathing-house,  this  latter  building  was 
appropriated  to  other  uses,  and  w^as  finally  hired  by  the 
Universalist  Society  as  a  place  for  worship.  It  was  a  neat, 
pretty  building,  centrally  located,  and  though  of  humble 
proportions  when  compared  with  the  costly  churches  that 
now  surround  the  spot  where  once  it  stood,  3'et  it  was 
sufficient  in  every  respect,  and  I  opine  that  never  was  God 
more  devoutly  worshipped  than  he  has  been  by  the  children 
of  his  grace  who  have  assembled  there,  with  united  hearts 
and  tongues,  to  do  him  reverence. 

Mr.  Cobb  preached  for  the  Society  several  times  during 
the  winter  of  1840-41,  and  in  the  spring  of  the  latter  year, 
by  the  unanimous  request  of  the  members,  he  became  their 
settled  pastor.     Under  his  ministration  the  society  grew 


to  his  new  habitation ;  and  no  one  could  have  spent  a  day,  or  a  year,  beneath 
that  roof  without  being  willing  to  acknowledge  that  never  was  a  title  more  fitly 
bestowed  upon  a  family  mansion. 


372  REV.    SYLVAN  us     COBB^    D.D. 

and  flourished,  and  during  the  succeeding  year,  deeming 
the  hall  too  small  to  accommodate  the  increasing  numbers, 
the  societ}^  erected  a  new  and  commodious  house  of  worship 
on  the  First  Section.  In  the  spring  of  1844  Mr.  Cobb  re- 
signed his  charge.  His  other  duties  pressed  so  heavilj^  upon 
him  that  he  felt  he  could  not  give  to  the  socict}^  the  time  and 
attention  they  needed,  so  he  took  this  step,  not  only  that 
he  might  find  more  time  for  the  improvement  of  his  paper, 
but  that  the  societ}^  might  find  a  pastor  who  could  devote 
all  his  time  to  their  interest. 

The  Society  engaged  a  pastor  ;  but,  from  various  causes, 
the  interest  died  out,  and  finally  the  house  was  given  up, 
and  the  meetings  were  discontinued.  Mr.  Cobb  could  not 
bear  to  see  this  ;  so  he  set  himself  about  the  work  of  gath- 
ering together  the  scattered  flock,  and  himself  assumed  the 
responsibility  of  hiring  Ritchie  Hall,  and  preaching  for 
whatever  the  friends  could  contribute.  It  was  in  the  spring 
of  1846  that  he  took  this  step,  and  once  more  the  Univer- 
salists  of  East  Boston  were  blessed  with  stated  meetings. 
Ritchie  Hall  was  thus  occupied  about  eleven  months,  when 
the  place  became  unpleasant  from  the  uses  to  which  it  was 
put  during  the  week,  and  while  the  friends  of  our  cause 
were  considering  what  they  should  do,  another  religious 
society,  that  had  been  holding  meetings  in  the  Old  Bath 
House,  moved  out  from  that  place,  and  the  Universalists 
secured  it,  and  in  the  spring  of  1847  returned  to  the  scene 
of  their  earlier  life. 

And  in  that  old  Bath  House  were  held  some  of  the  most 
glorious  meetings  ever  enjo3'ed  by  the  professed  followers 
of  Christ.  The  writer  of  these  pages  was  at  that  time 
Superintendent  of  the  Sabbath-school,  and  also  Leader  of 
the  Choir,  and  he  well  remembers  the  soul-inspiring  pas- 
sages of  social  and  religious  interest  that  must  ever  sane- 


THE   MEMOIR.  373 

tify  the  memories  of  that  humble  place  iu  pur  hearts.  The 
noble  preacher  in  his  homely  desk,  surrounded  by  earnest 
and  inquiring  listeners,  who  had  come  to  gain  gospel  food  ,  — 
the  grand  sermon,  preached  with  a  spirit  of  warm  and  ar- 
dent love  of  the  subject,  and  with  a  patriarchal  regard  for 
the  hearers  ;  —  the  prayer,  solemn,  sincere,  and  impressive, 
and  responded  to  by  every  heart ;  —  the  singing,  tuneful 
and  prompt,  but  with  no  attempt  at  flourish  or  grandilo- 
quence of  style  ;  —  and  then  the  benediction,  followed  by 
a  scene  of  hand-shaking,  congratulation,  and  outpouring 
of  fraternal  love  and  good-feeling ;  —  and  this  scene  of 
social  re-union  was  generally  enlivened  by  an  impromptu 
passage  of  music  in  that  corner  where  the  choir  was  located. 
The  writer,  with  his  violin,  striking  up  the  good  old 
'^  Ode  on  jScience"  or  ^'  Majesty''  ov  '■' Northjlelcl,"  which 
was  an  unfailing  call  to  the  patriarchs  of  song  —  those  who 
had  been  singers  in  da3^s  Iang-S3me  —  and  gathering  around 
the  dais  they  would  raise  their  voices  in  jubilant  strains 
till  the  old  structure  seemed  one  vast  organ,  with  its  grand 
diapason  in  full  blast.  "  Father  Pettengill,"  —  "  Uncle 
Waters," —  and  many  others  of  silvered  locks  and  furrowed 
brow.  Where  are  they  now?  O,  for  one  more  meeting  of 
the  good  old  sort  in  that  humble  Bath  House !  But  the 
wish  is  vain.  Its  hallowed  walls  were  long  since  swept 
away  by  the  resistless  hand  of  progress,  and  an  imposing 
structure  of  massive  stone  now  occupies  the  place  where 
our  loved  Bethel  stood  ! 

And  here  I  must  speak  of  the  Sabbath- School ;  for  not 
man}^,  I  ween,  even  in  East  Boston,  are  aware  of  the 
amount  of  influence  for  good  which  has  been  wielded  by 
that  School.  Mr.  Cobb  established  it  very  shortly  after  he 
moved  upon  the  Island,  and  with  the  assistance  of  his  own 
family,  and  those  of  the  friends  who  felt  an  interest  in  the 
32 


374  EEV.     SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

matter,  it  was  very  soon  put  into  good  working  order ;  and 
from  that  time  to  the  2yresent,  the  East  Boston  Universalist 
Sabbath  School  has  never  ceased  to  live  and  labor;  and  it  has 
ever  ranked  one  of  the  highest  in  point  of  faithfulness  and 
interest,  among  the  schools  in  the  cit}^ ;  and  I  believe  that 
there  has  never  been  a  time,  from  the  date  of  its  inception, 
when  some  member  of  Mr.  Cobb's  family  has  not  been 
connected  with  it.  Through  all  the  trials  and  troubles  of 
the  Society,  the  Sabbath-School  has  kept  evenly  and  qui- 
etly on  its  way,  affording  opportunity  for  all  who  desired, 
to  meet  on  the  Sabbath,  and  listen  to  the  breathings  of  that 
faith  w^hich  holds  God  as  the  Universal  Father  and  Friend. 
In  seasons  when  the  Society  has  been  entirely  dormant 
for  months  at  a  time,  this  band  of  Universalist  Christians 
has  been  awake  to  the  needs  of  the  people,  and  the  mem- 
bers thereof  have  never  fallen  short  of  their  duty.  So 
we  may  regard  the  Sabbath-School  as  the  vital  centre  of 
our  denominational  system  upon  the  Island,  to  which  the 
present  Society,  with  all  its  prosperity  and  promise,  is 
indebted  for  its  existence. 

Mr.  Cobb  continued  to  preach  in  the  Bath  House  through 
the  Spring  and  Summer  of  1848  ;  and  he  did  it  at  a  pecu- 
niary sacrifice  to  himself,  as  the  writer  well  knows.  The 
Society  was  small  and  weak,  rich  in  gospel  faith,  but  poor 
in  this  world's  possessions.  It  had  not  jet  recovered 
from  the  sad  blow  given  by  the  mismanagement  of  those 
who  had  built  the  Meeting-house,  nor  was  it  likely  to 
recover  therefrom  for  some  time  to  come.  Mr.  Cobb, 
when  he  commenced  this  second  term  of  enoraojeraent  with 
them,  had  been  actuated  solely  by  a  desire  to  subserve  the 
good  of  his  own  family,  as  well  as  the  good  of  the  few 
tried  and  faithful  ones  who  were  anxious  to  listen  to  the 
word  of  the  Universal  God.     He  assumed  the  responsibil- 


THE   MEMOIR.  375 

ity  himself,  and  preached  for  just  what  could  be  saved  tt 
him  after  all  other  expenses  had  been  paid.  But  in  Au- 
gust the  owners  of  the  land  upon  which  the  Bath  House 
stood  had  planned  to  move  it  away,  and  erect  another 
building  upon  the  site.  There  was  no  other  room  which 
could  be  obtained  upon  terms  that  came  within  reach  of 
the  means  of  the  Society,  and  Mr.  Cobb  found  it  necessary 
to  dissolve  his  connection  with  them  once  more. 

In  the  Freeman  of  August  11th,  1848,  after  speaking  of 
the  matter  as  above,  annnouncing  that  the  Bath  House  was 
to  be  moved  away,  Mr.  Cobb  adds,  — 

"Yet  there  are  lovers  of  the  gospel  here,  who,  when  the  pres- 
ent pressure  is  removed  from  the  business  of  the  country,  will 
provide  a  convenient  place  of  worship,  and  build  up  a  good 
society.  We  shall  obtain  the  services  of  some  worthy  young 
man,  who  can  devote  his  whole  attention  to  the  wants  and  inter- 
ests of  our  cause  here,  as  it  is  meet.  As  our  responsibihties  are 
in  the  care  of  our  paper,  we  have  only  been  able  to  suj^ply  them 
on  the  Sabbath,  devoting  to  the  society  here  no  pastoral  care  in 
the  week.  This  we  have  done  at  a  pecuniary  sacrifice,  for  the 
sake  of  having  meetings.  But  on  a  new  start,  upon  the  work 
already  done,  and  in  better  times,  they  must  and  will  support  a 
laborer  in  the  work." 

And  in  this  connection  I  must  give  a  letter  which  Mr. 
Cobb  wrote  to  his  wife  at  the  time  this  suspension  of  his 
relations  as  pastor  was  under  consideration.  I  give  the 
letter  for  several  reasons.  In  the  first  place,  it  will  show 
the  feelings  which  actuated  him  in  his  proposed  movement, 
and  demonstrate  how  his  heart  was  in  the  subject,  and  how 
carefully  he  weighed  such  matters  before  determining  upon 
his  course  of  action.  And  then  the  letter  gives  a  glimpse 
at  the  inner  man  ;  it  reveals  the  spirit  —  the  soul  —  of  the 
workman,  and  opens  up  some  of  those  traits  of  character 
that  made  him  what  he  was  —  pure  in  thought  and  honest 


376  EEF.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.I). 

in  purpose.  And  it  shows,  too,  why  such  a  man  is  loved 
by  his  famil3^  Those  things  which  a  man  does  to  be  seen 
of  the  world  may  not  be  a  truthful  index  to  his  character ; 
nor  can  we  alwa\^s  accept  what  a  man  writes  for  the  world 
to  read  as  a  true  impress  of  his  inner  thoughts  and  motives. 
If  we  would  know  a  man  for  what  he  is,  we  must  see  him 
at  home,  where  his  native  spirit  has  full  play,  and  where 
the  restraint  of  society  is  removed  ;  and  if  we  would  get  at 
his  innermost  thoughts  and  emotions,  we  must  find  access 
to  his  private  letters  —  letters  which  were  never  meant  for 
the  eyes  of  the  world,  but  which  the  writer  believed  would 
never  be  perused  b}^  another  than  the  loved  and  trusted  one 
to  whom  they  were  penned. 

I  shall  have  occasion  to  present  several  of  these  private 
morceaux  of  correspondence,  not"  for  anj  literary  merit,  nor 
as  indices  of  his  style  of  composition,  either  in  prose  or 
verse  ;  but  simply  as  mirrors  of  his  mind  and  heart ;  and 
as  such  the  reader  will  take  them  ;  and,  when  read  in  that 
light,  I  am  sure  they  will  be  grateful  and  refreshing  to  all 
who  have  hearts  to  feel,  and  souls  that  can  be  led  to  sj^m- 
pathize  with  that  which  is  pure  and  true  and  good. 

Here  is  the  letter  to  which  I  have  referred,  and  I  give 
the  first  part  of  it  entire,  that  the  reader  ma}^  gain  an  idea 
of  Mr.  Cobb's  manner  of  doing  business.  Be  assured,  he 
never  spent  many  idle  moments  when  away  from  home  :  — 

'*  North  Scituate,  R.  l.,Aug.  12,  1848. 

"Mine  Estimable  Wife, — 

"  You  have  already  learned  that  I  am  to  preach  in  Phenix,  or 
rather  in  the  Arkwright  School-House,  to-morrow.  I  hired  a 
team  at  Arkwright  this  morning,  and  took  a  ride  to  this  place, 
nine  miles,  to  fill  out  the  week.  It  is  a  small  factory  settlement. 
My  faithful  Agent,  Br.  Cowee,  said  he  did  not  think  I  could  get 
another  subscriber,  as  he  had  tried  quite  thoroughly,  and  there 


THE   MEMOIU.  ^11 

were  not  more  than  one  or  two  Universalists  in  the  place  who 
were  not  already  taking  the  Freeman.  However,  I  told  my 
story,  and  he  went  through  the  mill  with  me  ;  and  I  got  three 
new  subscribers,  who  paid  me  ;  and  I  sold  four  of  my  Compends, 
and  six  Family  Singing  Boohs,  making  ten  dollars  and  fifty 
cents.  So  much  cash  I  have  received  here,  besides  one  dollar 
for  a  Compend  sold  on  the  way  this  morning.  It  is  now  eleven 
o'clock,  and  I  am  going  to  write  here  in  Br.  Cowee's  house  until 
dinner-time,  and  after  dinner  I  shall  ride  out  two  miles  to  a  man 
who  owes  for  the  Freeman,  —  and  perhaps  to  find  one  or  two 
new  subscribers,  —  and  then  I  shall  return  to  Phenix. 

•'  And  now  to  the  subject  of  my  letter  :  I  was  greatly  cheered 
by  that  little  note  which  you  placed  in  the  bundle  you  sent  me. 
It  contained  but  a  few  words,  and  yet  those  words  are  of  great 
value  to  me.  To  get,  warm  from  your  hand —  *  We  are  all  well 
and  happy,''  and  that  inspiring  '  Woi^k  on,''  and  '  Hope  on,  liope 
ever,''  —  is  a  cordial  to  my  soul,  and  strength  to  my  bones.  And 
to  learn,  too,  that  you  had  got  over  tliat  little  nervous  affection, 
gives  me  much  pleasure. 

*'  And  now,  my  love,  I  see  clearly  that  we  have  great  reason 
for  thankfulness  and  peace.  My  matters,  to  be  sure,  are  in  a 
situation  to  require  some  six  months  of  continued  attention  to 
my  out-door  business ;  but  then  I  do  not  make  it  laborious  nor 
unpleasant.  I  am  constantly  among  excellent  friends,  and  am 
prospered,  and  take  such  methods  of  getting  about  as  render  it 
comfortable  on  my  part, —  much  more  so  than  running  about  the 
city  to  borrow  money.  And  when  I  can  feel  that  you  are  happy 
at  home,  I  am  certainly  one  of  the  happiest  of  men.  I  am  im- 
pressed with  the  idea  that  the  Lord  has  much  good  for  you  and 
me  yet  to  do  in  this  world,  and  we  can  afford  to  devote  a  few 
months  to  the  persevering  mission  I  have  planned,  which  is  not 
even  unpleasant  in  itself,  for  getting  into  a  situation  still  more 
desirable. 

"  I  perceive  that  it  is  well  that  I  am  to  terminate  my  regular 
supply  at  East  Boston,  for  there  seems  to  be  a  prospect  of  as 
much  preaching  out  as  I  shall  wish,  upon  better  compensation, 
and  perhaps  to  do  more  good.  All  right.  It  will  be  quite  a  re- 
lief to  you,  too,  and  give  you  more  time  to  devote  to  your  de- 
partment of  the  Freeman. 

**  The  Freeman  is  the  favorite  paper  all  through  this  region. 
32* 


378  JIEV.    SYLVANUS   COB/},   D.D. 

Let  ns  keep  np  its  interest.     Look  well  to  short  unci  instructive 
Physiological  articles. 

"My  whole-souled  wife,  how  should  I  have  known  certain 
noble  traits  in  your  character,  if  we  liad  not  been  brought  through 
circumstances  requiring  us,  together,  to  '  Work  on  ? '  Would 
those  traits  have  even  been  developed  ?  —  traits  which  will  ever 
be  more  valuable  to  me  than  silver  and  gold.  And  you,  too, 
have  a  sphere  in  which  to  '  work  on.'  Well  —  *  work  on,'  *  keep 
cool,'  '  hasten  slowly,'  and  HE  who  has  always  been  with  us 
will  not  forsake  us.  You  will  enjoy  the  satisfaction  of  reflecting 
that  even  the  coming  upon  the  stage  of  that  '  little  fretting  Eu- 
nice Hale  Wait '  will  effect  not  a  little  for  turning  the  world  over. 
True,  you  find  human  nature  among  mankind,  and  that  is  just 
what  it  is  our  province  to  cultivate.  We  shall  not  at  once  make 
it  over  anew,  but  we  are  to  keep  on  cultivating,  cultivating, 
and  making  some  spots  of  it  a  little,  and  yet  a  little  better. 

"  But  now  the  foctory  bell  rings  for  dinner,  and  I  will  suspend 
my  scrawling  to  you  till  after  meeting  to-morrow. 

''Sunday  morning.  —  Good  morning.  Wife!  I  have  just 
shaved,  and  put  on  that  dicky  with  the  wife's  rich  salutation.  It 
makes  me  feel  at  home.*  I  went  out  yesterday  afternoon  as  I 
said.  That  man  paid  me  two  dollars,  and  two  others  paid  me 
two  each,  making  $16.50  at  that  place.  Then  on  my  return  to 
Arkwright  one  paid  me  two  dollars  who  subscribed  on  Wednes- 
day, and  two  others  bought  Compends,  making  $20.50  taken  on 
Saturday,  besides  the  Compends  sold  in  the  morning,  which  went 
on  horse-hire.  It  is  a  pleasant  morning.  The  Lord  bless  us 
to-day ! 

"  Monday  morning. —  Good  morning,  my  dear  wife.  We  had 
good  meetings  yesterday.  I  preached  at  Appanaug,  where  I 
now  am,  at  five-and-a-half  o'clock.  Am  well  this  morning. 
Going  to  East  Greenwich  to  get  a  few  subscribers  to-day.  Shall 
get  home,  I  think,  about  Wednesday,  just  to  stop  over  night. 
All  right.     Kiss  Jimmy  for  me.     Love  to  Sarah. 

"Yours  ever,  S.Cobb." 

*  It  was  Mrs.  Cobb's  custom,  -when  packing  up  her  husband's  change  of  linen 
on  the  eve  of  his  departure  from  home,  to  imprint  a  kiss  upon  the  clean  dicky, 
remarking  as  she  did  so,  "  There,  hubby,  you'll  find  wify's  kiss  when  you  put 
that  on."  To  some  such  things  may  appear  light  and  frivolous  in  print;  but  to 
such  the  most  holy  and  soul-cheering  of  all  the  domestic  virtues  would  be  but 
as  the  senseless  breathing  of  the  passing  wind. 


THE   MEMOIU.  379 

The  Bath  House  was  no  more  ;  the  Univei'salists  of  East 
Boston  lay  back  awhile  from  their  labors,  waiting  for  the 
spirit  to  move  them ;  while  their  relieved  pastor,  as  we 
have  seen,  had  no.  lack  of  work,  and  no  disposition  to  be 
idle. 


380  BEV.   SYLVANUS   COBB^  D,D, 


CHAPTER  Yin, 


James   Arthur,  —  Getting   Subscribers,  —  Virtues    of 
EvERY-DAY  Life,  —  Death  of  Mr.  Cobb's  Mother. 

Mr.  Cobb  was  not  disappointed  in  the  result  of  the  re- 
moval of  his  office  to  Boston.  He  was  more  easily  accessi- 
ble to  those  of  his  subscribers  who  wished  to  see  him,  and 
in  every  way  he  found  the  conducting  of  his  business  more 
convenient ;  also,  being  thus  located  in  the  great  social 
and  commercial  centre  of  New  England,  he  was  enabled  to 
gather  more  fully  and  readily  such  items  of  news  as  would 
be  of  interest  to  his  patrons.  And,  furthermore,  the  name 
of  Boston  as  the  hailing-point  of  his  paper,  bore  a  prestige 
which  was  of  no  small  benefit  to  him  in  the  labor  of  intro- 
ducing the  Freeman  into  new  localities.  It  was  pleasant 
to  be  able  to  introduce  the  suppliant  for  popular  favor  as  a 
"  Boston  Paper ^''  for  people  are  more  apt  to  give  respectful 
attention  to  a  missive  emanating  from  "  head-quarters," 
than  to  one  hailing  from  some  out-post.  Where  local  inter- 
est is  the  chief  feature,  a  paper  may  well  be  located  at  the 
most  accessible  point  within  the  area  whose  interests  are 
to  be  subserved  ;  but  when  a  publication  claims  to  repre- 
sent an  interest  of  a  large  section  of  country,  it  seems  emi- 
nentl}^  proper  that  its  head-quarters  should  be  established 
at  the  general  emporium  of  said  section.  In  this  removal 
the  publisher  took  a  wise  step,  and  he  never  had  occasion 
to  regret  it. 


THE   MEMOIR.  '  381 

In  the  preceding  chapter  I  carried  to  its  close  Mr.  Cobb's 
connection,  in  his  capacity  as  pastor,  with  the  Universalist 
Society  of  East  Boston  ;  but  it  will  be  borne  in  mind  that 
there  were  warm  and  ardent  connections  of  friendship  with 
the  "  tried  and  true  "  of  the  old  society  that  could  be  sev- 
ered only  by  the  hand  of  death.  During  his  pastorship 
there  were  many  social  gatherings  —  Levees,  Picnics,  Tea- 
Parties,  and  the  like  —  gotten  up  for  the  benefit  of  the  soci- 
ety, which  gave  birth  to  fraternal  feelings  that  were  not 
to  be  extinguished  by  any  unfavorable  breeze  that  might 
drive  said  "  Society  "  out  of  its  proper  course.  Through 
all  the  remaining  years  of  his  life  he  regarded  that  society 
as  a  child  of  his  own,  and  though,  upon  gaining  its  legal 
majority,  and  starting  out  into  the  world  to  act  for  itself, 
it  did  not  always  meet  with  success,  yet  he  loved  it,  and 
was  never  backward  in  extending  a  helping  hand  in  its 
seasons  of  need.  Once,  as  we  have  already  seen,  when  it 
had  "  set  up  for  itself,"  and  had  expended  all  its  substance, 
he  took  it  back,  and  carried  it  through  a  season  of  social 
and  religious  enjoyment  and  profit  as  pure  and  inspiring  as 
ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  any  body  of  Christians.  And  there 
is  no  telling  how  long  he  might  have  continued  to  bear  the 
burden  had  not  solemn  duty  to  himself  and  family  required 
him  to  drop  it.  I  have  heard  of  children  who  did  not  know 
their  own  parents,  and  have  not  wondered  thereat ;  but  I 
should  marvel  greatly  if  the  Universalist  Society  of  East 
Boston  should  ever  forget  the  faithful  patriarch  who  led 
them  up  out  of  the  wilderness,  and  set  their  feet  upon  the 
promised  land,  giving  to  them  the  heritage  of  the  glorious 
Truth  of  God's  Universal  Fatherhood,  and  his  plan  of  Uni- 
versal Redemption  through  Christ  Jesus  his  Son. 

The  reader  of  the  Autobiography  has  had  the  account  of 
the  birth  of  eight  children  to  Mr.  Cobb,  the  last  —  twins  — 


382  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

having  been  born  on  the  sixth  of  August,  1834.  On  the 
22d  of  December,  1842,  another  —  a  boy  —  the  ninth  child 
—  was  added  to  the  number  of  the  household,  and  he  was 
christened  James  Arthur. 

Since  writing  the  preceding  paragraph  I  have  been  over- 
hauling some  old  letters  to  see  what  the  parents  said  about 
this  child  at  the  time.  I  was  then  in  the  U.  S.  Navy, 
cruising  along  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  was  kept  duly  informed  of  all  that 
transpired  at  home.  I  have  found  the  letters,  and  have 
read  them  over.  I  find  much  about  the  "  sweet  babe,"  but 
I  will  not  put  it  in  print.  I  will  simply  say  that  the  father's 
heart  swells  with  pride  and  gratitude,  and  that  he  grows 
jubilant  over  this  new  addition  to  the  flock  he  has  to  care 
for  and  to  love.  The  impress  of  the  mother's  soul  in 
written  words  is  too  sacred  to  be  transcribed  here.  The 
treasure  to  her  was  be3'ond  all  price  —  a  gift  of  Heaven,  so 
pure  and  lovely,  that  words  could  not  tell  her  emotions. 
She  tried  to  tell  to  her  first-born,  who  was  separated  from 
her  by  the  trackless  waste  of  a  broad  ocean,  something  of 
the  ecstatic  joy  that  thrilled  her  soul  as  she  held  to  her 
bosom  that  new-born  pledge  —  her  youngest,  and,  in  its 
utter  dependence,  her  dearest.  It  was  a  precious  gift, 
highly  prized,  and  most  carefull}'  nursed.  And  now,  with 
the  light  of  subsequent  events  illumining  the  page,  I  am 
able  to  say  that  that  youngest  child  was  given  to  be  the 
most  precious  of  all  the  treasures  of  the  household.  His 
it  was  to  perform  a  mission  of  love  on  earth  —  his  to  lead 
the  way  to  Heaven !  His  it  was  to  form  the  last  link  of 
love  in  the  family  —  his  to  form  the  first  link  in  the  bright 
chain  of  heavenly  birth  that  lifts  us  towards  our  God  ! 

The  boy  James  Arthur  grew  and  thrived,  and  when  I 
reached  the  old  home  in  the  Spring  of  1844,  I  found  him 


THE   MEMOIR.  383 

(there  is  no  fraternal  prejudice  in  this)  one  of  the  bright- 
est, best,  and  most  attractive  boys  I  ever  saw.  He  was 
most  emphatically  "  a  light  and  a  joy  in  the  household." 

In  looking  over  Mr.  Cobb's  record  of  events  for  the 
year  1842,  I  notice  that  during  the  month  of  January  of 
that  year  he  had  a  fit  of  sickness  which  lasted  him  about 
two  weeks.  He  was  in  Waltham  on  the  last  Sunday  of 
December,  and  was  taken  quite  unwell  there  ;  but  he  came 
home  strong  in  the  faith  that  it  was  owly  a  slight  cold, 
which  a  single  dose  of  Thompson's  medicine,  and  a  night's 
nursing,  would  drive  away.  He  was  mistaken,  however. 
On  Tuesday  he  took  his  bed,  and  remained  there  nearly  a 
fortnight.  But  let  it  be  understood  that  the  sickness  did 
not  tie  his  hands.  His  pulpit  was  filled  by  another ;  but 
his  editorial  labors  were  not  set  aside,  save  for  one  or  two 
days  when  he  was  the  sickest.  A  number  of  articles  came 
from  his  pencil^  written  while  bolstered  up  by  pillows.  I 
have  given  this  event  particular  notice  because  sickness 
was  something  so  unusual  with  him.  In  a  note,  appended 
to  an  article  pencilled  for  his  paper  while  thus  confined,  he 
says,  — 

'*  We  will  here  add,  that  during  the  twenty-one  years,  and 
over,  that  we  have  been  in  the  ministry,  this  is  the  second 
Sunday  on  which  we  have  been  prevented  by  sickness  from 
preaching.  We  have  more  to  be  thankful  for  than  we  gratefully 
realize." 

During  the  year  1842  Mr.  Cobb  labored  hard  to  increase 
the  circulation  of  his  paper  ;  and  he  did  not  labor  in  vain. 

The  year  1843  opened  with  prospects  fair,  and  to  him 
very  promising.  His  paper  was  becoming  popular,  and  its 
circulation  was  on  the  increase.  He  received  a  sharp  punch 
now  and  then,  accompanied  by  a  distressed  growl,  from 


384  nEV.    SYLVAN  us     COJSB,    D.D, 

brother  editors  and  publishers  who  fancied  he  was  tres- 
passing upon  their  territory.  Occasional!}-  he  took  a  trip 
into  a  neighboring  State  where  there  might  chance  to  be 
located  a  Universalist  publication  ;  and  as  it  was  a  passion 
with  him  —  the  getting  of  new  subscribers  —  he  never 
failed,  on  such  occasions,  to  make  additions  to  his  list ; 
whereupon  the  local  editor  would  read  him  a  severe  lecture 
upon  the  impropriety  of  such  trespass.  But  this  never 
troubled  Mr.  Cobb,  farther  than  to  give  him  an  unpleasant 
conception  of  his  brother's  character  for  Avhining  and 
fault-finding. 

He  made  it  a  point  —  and  one  from  which  I  believe  he 
never  deviated  —  never  to  present  the  claim  of  his  paper  to 
patronage  at  the  expense  of  another.  He  never  sought  to 
obtain  a  subscriber  when  by  so  doing  he  would  lead  a  man 
to  stop  an}'  other  Universalist  publication.  But  he  claimed 
that  each  paper  should  stand  upon  its  merits,  and  that 
every  man  should  have  the  privilege  of  taking  and  reading 
just  that  paper  which  suited  him  best.  For  himself  he 
claimed  no  exclusive  field.  It  was  his  earnest  desire  to 
spread  a  knowledge  of  the  Truth,  both  Social  and  Relig- 
ious, Civil  and  Political,  and  wherever  man  dwelt  in  igno- 
rance or  in  need,  there  was  his  field.  He  cared  not  how 
many  canvassers  tramped  over  the  ground  in  Massachu- 
setts. If  they  could  present  a  better  Universalist  paper 
than  the  Freeman,  then  they  had  the  advantage ;  if  they 
could  not,  then  his  subscribers  would  not  be  lik2ly  to  for- 
sake him.  He  was  honorable  in  all  his  transactions,  and 
he  would  have  spurned  as  an  act  unworthy  of  him  an 
underhanded  deal  of  any  kind,  and  much  more  a  deal 
which  could  militate  against  the  interests  of  an  honorable 
competitor. 

Here  is  a  heart-throb,  the  tuneful  echo  of  which  reached 


THE   MEMOIR.  385 

his  wife  by  mail  about  this  time.  He  was  at  Wellfleet 
when  he  wrote  :  — 

"  My  dear  Wife,  — A  pleasant  morning  this.  I  am  in  fine 
health ;  meet  with  many  good  friends,  and  with  a  variety  of  in- 
teresting scenery ;  but  I  am,  in  the  midst  of  ail  tliese  tilings,  get- 
ting to  be  somewhat  lonesome, —  and  I  may  as  well  out  with  the 
truth  of  it  as  not.  I  want  to  meet  the  beaming  countenance  of 
that  wife,  and  of  those  blithe  and  happy  children,  and  to  mingle 
in  the  loved  and  loving  domestic  group.  I  can  go  out,  and 
work,  and  get  along  very  well  for  two  or  three  days ;  but  soon 
the  world  becomes  uninteresting,  a  lonesomeness  of  spirit  comes 
over  me,  and  I  long  for  home.  And  home  never  tires.  There 
is  the  living,  gushing  spring  of  the  real,  genuine,  unfailing 
pleasures  of  life." 

So  much,  with  a  few  items  of  business,  was  written  at 
Wellfleet ;  but  as  no  mail  went  from  that  place  on  the  day 
of  writing,  he  took  the  letter  with  him,  and  finished  it  in 
Provincetown,  in  part  as  follows  :  — 

"My  mind  has  been  a  little  less  troubled  with  lonesomeness 
since  I  commenced  my  letter,  the  scenery  becoming  more  and 
more  interesting  as  I  neared  the  end  of  the  Cape.     And  this 

morning What  a  treat !    As  I  was  sitting  down  to  breakfast 

a  young  lady  handed  me  a  letter  which  a  boy  had  just  brought 
from  the  Post  Office  —  a  letter  from  the  Castle  of  Peace.  I 
opened  it,  but  found  that  I  could  not,  with  propriety  of  appear- 
ance, read  it  before  folks,  and  so  "laid  it  on  the  table."  After 
finishing  my  breakfast  I  went  away  by  myself  and  perused  the 
precious  document.  How  rich  am  I  in  such  affection,  of  such 
a  wife  and  such  children !  And  that  blessed  boy  out  upon  the 
sea!  God  be  praised  that  our  prayers  for  his  safety  and  weal 
are  being  answered.  May  the  good  seed  which  we  ever  en- 
deavored to  implant  in  his  youthful  mind  bear  abundantly  of 
heavenly  fruit.  How  I  long  for  his  return  !  But  I  will  patient- 
ly wait." 

And  now  a  peep  at  the  close  of  the  letter  just  to  sec  how 
33 


386  nEV.    SYLVANUS   COBB,   D.D. 

he  is  keeping  np  that  old  S3'stem  of  work.  Look  at  his 
correspondence  where  you  will ;  pick  up  his  diaiy,  and 
open  to  any  page ;  refer  to  any  week,  or  day,  of  these 
3^ears,  and  we  shall  find  the  same  note  of  preparation,  and 
always  in  the  midst  of  labors  being  performed.  No  rest ; 
no  respite ;  no  recreation,  save  such  as  he  could  gain  upon 
his  traA'els ;  his  one  source  of  comfort  and  recompense 
through  it  all  being  "  Home,  Sweet  Home."  Thus  he  closes 
the  letter :  — 

**  Sunday  Noon. —  We  have  had  a  fine  meeting  this  forenoon. 
This  afternoon  I  am  to  deliver  a  funeral  discourse  on  occasion  of 
the  death  of  Br.  Stull;  and  a  lecture  in  the  evening.  I  intend, 
to  start  at  about  five  o'clock  to-morrow  morning,  that  I  may  get 
over  the  beach  to  Truro  before  high  water,  and  breakfast  at 
Esquire  Small's  of  that  place.  To-morrow  evening  I  am  to  lec- 
ture on  Temperance  at  Orleans ;  Tuesday  evening,  preach  in 
Yarmouth ;  and  Wednesday  evening,  lecture  on  Temperance  in 
Sandwich.     Then,  on  Thursday,  I  will  hie  me  home. 

"  I  have  more  ink,  and  a  little  more  time  for  writing;  but  I 
must  devote  it  to  editorials  for  the  Freeman.         ♦         *         * 
"Your  devoted  husband, 

"S.  Cobb." 

If  I  could  only  hold  the  wrist  of  my  reader  in  my  hand, 
and  feel  when  the  pulses  began  to  weaken  and  flutter  from 
a  surfeit  of  any  particular  kind  of  food,  I  might  know  just 
when  to  change  the  course  ;  but  as  such  a  source  of  dem- 
onstration is  beyond  my  reach,  I  must  be  governed  by  my 
own  feelings  and  instincts  ;  and  I  am  thus  admonished  to 
give  an  extract  from  another  letter.  There  is  something 
to  me  peculiarly  refreshing  and  invigorating  in  these  out- 
pourings of  devotional  sentiment  from  the  heart  of  a  pub- 
lic man.  I  claim  that  Mr.  Cobb  was  emphatically  a  Good 
Man,  and  the  reader  who  calml}^  and  candidly  peruses  these 
pen-prints  of  the  soul  will  not  fail  to  see  where  we  base 


THE   MEMOIR.  ob  / 

our  claim.  And,  furthermore,  the  young  man,  just  taking 
upon  himself  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  husband  and 
father,  and  who  is  preparing  to  step  forth  into  the  world 
for  the  battle  of  life,  cannot  fail  to  be  benefited  by  these 
things.  Mark  not  only  the  cherished  love  of  family  and 
of  home,  but  also  mark  the  child-like  trust  in  God,  and  the 
devout  reliance  upon  His  almighty  power  and  goodness. 
They  spring  to  life  as  naturally  in  his  soul  as  spring  to  life 
the  fragrant  flowers  beneath  the  warm  sunshine  and  dewy 
kisses  of  June.  The  spirit  which  thus  finds  expression  in 
the  most  retired  and  common-place  passages  of  life  —  which 
thus  mirrors  itself  in  a  correspondence  meant  only  for  the 
eye  of  one  who  knew  him  as  well  as  he  knew  himself, — 
could  not  be  else  than  pure  and  humble.  There  could  be 
no  deceit,  no  hollow  sounding  of  words  ;  but  only  frank  and 
honest  expression  of  real  feeling  ;  —  no  parade  of  language 
and  fine  sentiment,  meant  for  the  conference  or  prayer 
meeting,  introduced  to  fill  up  a  place  in  the  set  services  of 
a  Sabbath  evening's  exercises,  to  be  forgotten  on  the 
morrow  when  the  busy  din  of  secular  life  comes  on  ;  but 
living,  operating,  and  ever-present  emotions,  forming  com- 
ponent parts  of  the  every-day  life  of  the  man. 

"Wrentham,  April  16,  1843. 
"My  very  dear  Wife, — 

"Rising  in  good  spirits  on  this  blessed  Sabbath  morn,  after 
lifting  up  my  soul  in  devotion  to  the  Lord  of  the  Universe,  I  next 
sit  down  to  commune  with  that  being  whom  I  honor  most  in  this 
lower  world.  In  this  '  lower  world,''  I  say  ;  for  we  live  in  a  world 
so  named,  but  *  our  citizenship  is  in  heaven.'  Our  minds,  in  a 
measure,  grasp  the  beauties  and  the  joys  of  the  two  worlds. 

*'  Wife,  will  you  indulge  me  with  an  occasional  expression 
of  what  passes  in  my  mind  every  day  ?  I  query  every  day 
whether  I  sufiiciently  appreciate  the  value  of  her  who  is  strewing 
my  path  of  life  with  flowers;   in  my  absence  conducting  the 


'dHH  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB^   D.D. 

affairs  of  so  large  a  family  with  judgment  and  propriety ;  and  on 
my  return,  and  in  my  presence,  cheerful  and  happy  —  no  reflec- 
tions ;  no  complainings ;  no  envying  of  other  people's  estates ; 
pleased  and  satisfied  with  a  numerous,  healthy,  and  happy 
ftmiily  around  you ;  the  bounties  of  a  munificent  Providence ; 
valued  friends  with  whom  to  interchange  the  civilities  of  life ; 
and  a  plenty  for  us  all  to  do,  to  keep  us  out  of  mischief  and  mel- 
ancholy ;  making  the  great  good  of  life  to  consist  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  pure  sentiments  and  afiections,  and  the  exercise  of  high 
and  enlightened  principles,  rather  than  in  the  vapory  gew-gaws 
of  st3'le  and  hollow  etiquette,  never  failing  to  sympathize  with, 
and  to  cheer  and  encourage,  a  devoted  husband,  in  his  many, 
but  pleasant,  cares  and  duties,  public  and  private.  Yes,  — I  do 
think  that  I  form  some  just  estimate  of  the  value  of  such  a  life- 
companion.  And  you  will  pardon  this  free  expression  of  senti- 
ment from  me,  w^hich  I  make  for  you,  and  not  for  the  world. 
******** 
"  Ever  your  devoted  husband, 

"S.    COBB.^' 


And  had  Mr.  Cobb  lived  to  finish  his  Autobiography,  the 
world  would  never  have  seen  "  this  free  expression  of  sen- 
timent." He  would  never  have  opened  those  old  budgets 
to  expose  their  heart-gems ;  and  the  most  tuneful  and 
tender  of  all  his  written  epistles  might  have  passed  from 
remembrance  when  the  "  life-companion  "  for  whom  they 
were  penned,  had  gone  to  join  him  in  the  Better  World. 
It  is  a  fq^t  in  human  nature  that  those  virtues  which  are 
born  in  a  man  —  which  are  a  part  of  his  very  being,  and 
which  remain  by  him  as  do  the  features  that  mark  his  coun- 
tenance, or  the  form  that  distinguishes  his  physical  frame, 
are  very  apt  to  be  held  b}^  him  in  light  esteem  when  com- 
pared with  virtues  which  are  his  through  trial  and  victor}^ 
He  seems  to  forget  that  the  common  virtues  of  domestic  life 
are  not  so  universally  exercised  as  they  ought  to  be.  Those 
little  proprieties  and  courtesies  of  every-day  life,  which  go 


THE    MEMOIR.  389 

to  make  np  the  joy  of  the  household,  are  so  slight  and  un- 
obtrusive in  their  blessed  office,  that  they  seem  to  be  held 
as  matters  of  course,  which  every  man  will  gather  for  him- 
self, and  which  no  man,  professing  the  religion  of  the  meek 
and  lowly  Nazarine,  would  neglect.  Mr.  Cobb,  with  all 
his  travel,  and  consequent  opportunities  for  observation, 
never  fully  realized  how  far  above  the  ordinary  level  of 
mankind  he  stood  as  regards  the  social  and  domestic  vir- 
tues. Always  ready  and  willing  himself  to  recognize  the 
blessings  which  had  been  bestowed  upon  him,  and  to  render 
proper  gratitude  therefor,  he  was  inclined  to  think  that 
others  did  the  same  ;  and  if  he  found  a  man  unmindful  of 
the  joys  of  home  he  fancied  that  that  man's  home  had  no 
elements  of  brightness  in  it. 

O,  how  few  seem  to  fully  appreciate  these  little  things 
of  the  Home  Life  that  go  to  make  up  so  vast  a  sum  of 
-weal  or  woe  !  What  tiny  motes  they  are,  and  j^et  how 
freighted  with  momentous  consequence  !  A  man  with  a 
pebble  no  larger  than  the  half  of  a  poor  little  pea  in  his 
closely-fitting  boot  is  as  surely  deprived  of  comfort  as 
though  he  had  a  mill-stone  hanged  about  his  neck.  And 
so  a  tiny  mote,  of  no  more  import  than  a  single  harsh, 
ungrateful  word,  or  a  frown,  or  even  a  chilling  look,  may 
make  the  whole  day  as  dark  and  uncomfortable  as  though 
a  blow  had  been  struck,  or  a  volley  of  curses  had  been 
poured  out  upon  the  home  altar. 

Not  many  men  were  as  free  from  these  little  vices  and 
improprieties  of  home  life  as  was  Mr.  Cobb  ;  and  I  claim 
that  this  freedom  from  those  much  too  common  evils,  with  a 
possession  of  the  virtues  of  purity  and  propriety  in  his 
domestic  relations,  was  the  chief  corner-stone,  or  starting- 
point,  if  I  may  so  speak,  of  his  whole  character  as  a  man. 
He  would  have  felt  like  blushing  had  he  ha^ided  one  of 


390  JiEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB^    T>,D. 

those  old  familiar,  lover-like  epistles  to  the  printer  ;  but  not 
so  his  son.  I  honored  and  revered  my  father  in  that  he 
was  good  and  kind ;  and  in  all  the  traces  of  character  he 
has  left  behind  him,  none  speak  so  directly,  and  so  forcibly 
and  unmistakably,  of  his  native  purity  and  goodness  of 
heart  as  do  those  messages  of  love  and  blessing,  coming 
warm  and  impulsive  from  the  husband  and  father  to  the 
wife  and  children. 

In  the  month  of  June  of  this  year  (1843)  Mr.  Cobb 
received  intelligence  of  the  death  of  his  mother.  The  fol- 
lowing is  an  extract  of  the  letter  from  his  brother  inform- 
ing him  of  the  event ;  — 

♦♦  Norway,  June  23,  1843. 
*«  Dear  Brother,  — 

"  It  has  become  my  duty  to  inform  you  that  our  justly-ven- 
erated mother  is  no  more.  She  departed  this  life  yesterday  at 
30  minutes  past  4  P.  M. 

"She  has  been  quite  calm,  patient,  and  resigned  during  her 
illness,  which  at  times  has  been  very  distressing.  She  seemed 
desirous  to  have  all  her  children  with  her,  and  mentioned  that 
she  should  have  been  glad  to  have  seen  you,  but  observed  that 
she  supposed  that  your  engagements  were  such  that  you  could 
not  leave  home. 

*'  During  a  few  of  her  last  days,  she  was  unable  to  speak 
much  owing  to  canker  in  her  mouth ;  she  spoke  of  the  Saviour, 
as  the  one  altogether  lovely,  and  was  heard  reciting,  'Fly 
swifter  round,  ye  wheels  of  time,  and  bring  the  welcome  day,' 
&c.  In  the  fore  part  of  the  day  (yesterday)  she  appeared  to 
be  in  great  pain  and  distress  for  some  time,  but  became  to 
appearance  quite  easy,  and  her  desire  that  she  might  gently  fall 
asleep  in  Jesus,  seemed  to  be  granted.  Her  exit  appeared  like 
falling  into  a  quiet  and  peaceful  sleep  ;  there  was  not  a  struggle, 
nor  a  groan,  nor  anything  that  indicated  distress.  To-morrow 
at  one  o'clock  p.  M.  is  the  time  appointed  for  her  funeral." 

In  this  bereavement  Mr.  Cobb  did  not  experience  a  sense 


THE  MEMOIR.  391 

of  horror,  nor  of  painful  tribulation.  There  was  no  rend- 
ing of  the  heart-strings,  as  is  the  case  with  those  who  have 
educated  themselves  to  look  upon  death  as  the  "  King  of 
Terrors,"  and  upon  the  grave  as  "a  gulf  of  dark  uncer- 
tainty." That  glorious  faith  which  he  had  been  preaching 
so  many  years  for  the  guidance  of  others  in  affliction,  he 
found  equal  to  his  own  wants  on  this  sad  occasion.  The 
following  remarks  he  penned  for  the  Freeman,  and  they 
accompanied  the  letter  from  his  brother  in  publication  :  — 

**  It  was  the  same  in  this  case  as  on  the  death  of  my  father,  — 
we  received  the  letter  bearing  the  tidings  of  the  event,  on  the 
day  of  the  burial.  Could  I  have  been  informed  of  the  event,  or 
of  the  probabihty  of  it,  in  season,  how  speedily  would  I  have 
gone  to  mingle  tears  of  sincere  affection  with  the  other  mourn- 
ing children,  and  to  devote  the  last  offices  of  respect  to  the 
remains  of  a  most  worthy  and  venerated  parent.  Yes,  and  how 
gladly  would  I  have  responded  to  her  wish  to  see  me  with  her 
other  children,  that  I  might  there  have  received  a  dying  mother's 
blessing,  and  there  with  a  child's  gi-atitude  and  love,  I  might 
have  added  a  glow  of  comfort  to  the  last  hour  of  a  mother  in 
whose  life  I  have  never  known  a  wrong  feeling,  word  or  deed. 
But  I  knew  not  to  be  there.  All  her  other  surviving  children 
were  there ;  and  more  than  all,  the  blessed  Saviour  was 
there. 

*'  Her  age  was  83  years,  6  months,  and  6  days.  She  attained 
to  a  good  old  age,  —  and  her  memory  is  blessed.  Much  of  the 
good  which  her  children  find  in  life,  they  may  justly  ascribe  to 
a  mother's  influence." 

During  the  month  of  September  following  Mr.  Cobb 
visited  the  old  homestead  in  Norway,  then  in  possession 
of  Cyrus,  the  oldest  living  brother,  and  while  there  he 
wrote  to  his  familj^  a  letter  from  which  I  make  the  follow- 
ing extract :  — 

*'I  arrived  at  this  place  last  evening,  and  sit  now  in  the  room 
where  I  have  always  hitherto,  on  my  annual  visits  to  the  pater- 


392  nEV.   SYLVANUS   COBB,   n.D. 

nal  mansion,  met  my  worthy  and  venerated  mother.  How 
lonesome  it  now  appears.  O  that  spirit  of  maternal  love,  dig- 
nity, sweetness  of  disposition,  kindness  and  affection,  which  has 
always  lived  and  presided  here.  May  its  mantle  be  cast 
upon  me. 

"But  though  that  pleasant  countenance  I  see  not,  and  that 
voice  which  rocked  the  cradle  of  my  infancy,  and  by  the  law  of 
kindness  guided  my  juvenile  steps  in  the  way  of  peace,  I  hear 
not  now,  yet  I  seem  to  feel  her  presence  here.  Her  gentle 
spirit  seems  to  whisper,  '  I  have  only  gone  to  a  higher,  a  better 
abode,  to  greet  thy  father,  and  brother,  and  sisters,  who  had 
gone  before  ;  —  and  we  will  greet  you  in  due  time,  where  mor- 
tality shall  be  swallowed  up  of  life.' 

"  All  things  around  here,  except  the  vacancy  just  mentioned, 
appear  as  usual.  The  genial  suns  and  refreshing  rains  have 
blessed  the  peasants'  toil,  and  are  crowning  them  with  abun- 
dance. The  fields  are  loaded  with  profusiou,  and  the  wide- 
spread scene  is  clothed  with  beauty." 


THE   MEMOIR,  393 


CHAPTEK  IX. 

Transfer  of  the  "Gospel  Messenger,"  —  Progress  of 
THE  Denomination,  —  Anti-Slavery  Resolutions,  — 
A  Domestic  Morceau,  —  Compend  of  Christian  Di- 
vinity. 

During  the  month  of  August,  1843,  Mr.  Cobb  purchased 
the  subscription  list  of  the  '-^Gospel  Messenger"  a  weekly 
denominational  paper  which  had  been  published  in  Provi- 
dence, R.  I.,  by  Rev.  A.  A.  Davis.  By  this  transfer  the 
Freeman  found  its  way  into  hundreds  of  families  where  it 
had  not  before  been  known,  and  those  who  had  thus  become 
subscribers  to  that  paper  by  a  business  arrangement  with 
which  they  had  had  nothing  to  do,  were  sure  to  find  an 
honest  and  earnest  expression  of  the  Editor's  views  upon 
all  the  great  and  important  topics  of  the  day  ;  and  if  any 
of  them  disliked  his  course  upon  the  subjects  of  Temper- 
ance and  Slavery,  they  were  at  liberty  to  withdraw  their 
patronage. 

There  had  come  a  change,  however,  over  the  disposition 
of  the  denomination  touching  these  reformatory  matters 
since  the  establishment  of  the  Christian  Freeman  ;  and 
the  editor  thereof  was  beginning  to  see  the  fruits  of  his 
labors  in  rich  abundance.  It  was  a  source  of  glorious  sat- 
isfaction to  him  that  he  had  opportunity  to  show  to  his 
timid  brethren  and  co-workers  that  his  original  stand,  so 
firmly  adhered  to,  had  been  the  right  one. 


394  liEF.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

Dear  Reader,  at  this  stage  of  my  work  I  find  that  in  order 
to  bring  these  memoirs  within  the  compass  of  a  book  such 
as  would  meet  the  taste  and  wants  of  the  publi(?,  I  must 
study  and  practise  the  art  of  condensation.  In  showing 
how  the  denomination  graduall}^  lifted  itself  up  towards 
his  stand-point  I  would  like  to  present  in  full  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  councils  and  conventions,  giving  the  Anti- 
Slavery  resolutions  adopted,  and  quoting  the  remarks  of 
other  editors  thereon.  But  I  cannot  do  it.  The  documents 
and  extracts  are  before  me,  and  the  most  I  can  do  is,  to 
take  a  cursory  glance  at  them  as  we  pass  on. 

On  the  21st  of  September,  1843,  the  United  States  Con- 
vention of  Universalists,  in  session  at  Akron,  Ohio,  consid- 
ered and  discussed,  calmly  and  candidly,  a  series  of  Reso- 
lutions declaring  that  the  enslavement  of  the  African  race 
in  this  country  was  wrong,  "pernicious  alike  to  the  en- 
slaved and  the  enslaver,"  and  "  contrary  to  the  plainest 
dictates  of  natural  justice  and  Christian  love  ; "  and,  further- 
more, that  "  in  the  light  of  the  doctrines  of  Christ  we  feel 
constrained  to  bear  testimony  against  the  institution  of 
Slavery  as  maintained  in  a  portion  of  our  country."  These 
resolutions  were  adopted  without  one  dissenting  vote. 

Upon  the  passage  of  these  resolutions,  and  the  publica- 
tion of  the  fact  to  the  world,  Mr.  Cobb  took  occasion  to 
compare  them  with  a  series  of  resolutions  which  he  had 
presented  to  the  Massachusetts  State  Convention  of  Uni- 
versalists, at  New  Bedford,  in  1840,  and  which  "  were 
rejected  on  the  ground  that  it  would  peril  the  peace  and  pros- 
perity of  the  denomination  to  adopt  them ;  and  an  interest 
was  made  to  get  a  vote  that  i\iQy  should  not  even  go  upon 
the  published  minutes  of  the  convention  ! "  And  3'et  these 
resolutions  presented  by  Mr.  Cobb,  in  1840,  were  not  a 
whit  more  outspoken  against  Slavery  than  were  these  which 


THE   MEMOIR,  395 

the  United  States  Convention  had  adopted.  And  in  this 
connection  Mr.  Cobb  reproduces  the  objections  which  were 
made  by  some  of  his  brother  editors  to  his  purpose  when 
he  started  his  paper,  and  contrasts  them  with  the  spirit 
which  those  same  editors  now  manifest  in  support  of  the 
doings  of  the  General  Convention.  Only  a  few  years  be- 
fore they  had  denounced  his  course  as  "  dangerous  to 
the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  denomination,"  and  now 
they  not  only  publish  these  Anti-Slavery  resolutions,  but 
appear  proud  of  the  fact  that  the  denomination  is  openly 
and  publicly  committed  to  such  sentiments. 

Furthermore,  Mr.  Cobb  quotes  from  a  secular  paper  an 
article  in  which  the  Universalist  denomination  is  highly 
praised  for  the  noble  stand  it  has  taken  upon  the  subject  of 
Human  Liberty  and  Justice  ;  and  he  has  the  satisfaction  of 
seeing  our  denominational  journals  copy  this  same  article 
with  various  comments  of  pleasure  and  satisfaction.  One  of 
those  editors,  after  quoting  the  article  in  question,  saj^s,  — 
"  The  secular  presses  are  beginning  to  do  justice  to  the 
much  belied  and  abused  Universalists." 

"  Dear  man,"  answers  Mr.  Cobb,  ''  that  is  because  we 
have  just  gone  about  doing  justice  to  ourselves."  And  then 
he  goes  on  to  show  how  long  and  earnestly  he  has  been 
laboring  to  bring  the  denomination  up  to  the  work  of  ''  put- 
ting forth  its  moral  strength,  and  developing  the  beauty 
and  glory  of  its  principles." 

Surely  the  editor  of  the  Christian  Freeman  had  cause 
for  rejoicing  ;  and  by  these  bright  gleams  of  sunshine  upon 
his  path  was  he  lighted  on  in  his  course  of  duty,  feeling 
that  while  he  was  right  he  must  conquer.  Most  men  would 
have  faltered  beneath  the  load  he  bore  upon  his  shoulders  ; 
but  when  he  beheld  the  glorious  results  of  those  labors 
which  had  been  put  forth  in  behalf  of  Human  Freedom, 


396  nEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

how  could  he  let  fall  his  end  of  the  beam?  Ilis  paper  had 
become  a  power  in  the  denomination,  and  a  power  in  the 
land ;  and  though  he  was  forced  to  struggle  with  all  his 
might  to  meet  the  demands  that  were  made  upon  his  purse, 
he  chose  to  do  it  rather  than  fall  back  just  when  the  first 
notes  of  victory  were  sounding  over  the  land.  O,  if  his 
subscribers  had  onl}^  paid  him  what  they  owed,  how  happy, 
how  blessed,  would  have  been  his  lot !  But  they  were 
many  of  them  thoughtless,  and  left  him  to  struggle  on  while 
they  reaped  the  benefits.  But  let  it  be  understood  that 
there  were  some  grand  good  men  and  women  who  took  the 
Freeman  —  men  and  women  who  made  it  a  rule  to  pay 
promptly  in  advance.  Their  names  are  on  record,  and  I 
know  they  must  be  a  happy  and  prosperous  set. 

As  a  parent  Mr.  Cobb  was  most  indulgent  and  most  gen- 
erous, —  indulgent  in  all  things  that  could  conduce  to  the 
real  happiness  of  his  children,  and  generous  to  the  extent 
of  his  means  ;  and  there  have  been  times  when  his  great 
love  has  led  him  to  do  more  than  those  means  could  war- 
rant. He  never  made  an  aimless  present  to  any  of  his 
loved  ones,  nor  did  he  ever  give  merely  to  satisfy  a  craving 
for  some  new  thing.  His  gifts  were  always  chosen  with 
an  e^^e  to  some  real  benefit,  and  he  sought,  as  far  as  possi- 
ble, to  combine  improvement  with  pleasure  ;  and  I  am  sure 
that  no  mortal  was  ever  happier  than  was  he  when  he  had 
succeeded  in  giving  a  real  joy  to  his  household.  As  I  have 
had  occasion  to  remark  before,  these  little  gems  of  domes- 
tic life  —  these  gleams  of  light  that  flash  upon  the  atmos- 
phere of  home,  leaving  a  genial  warmth  in  their  train,  — 
give  most  surely  the  spirit  of  the  inner  man.  A  mass  of 
great,  gaudy  flowers  cannot  make  such  a  bouquet  as  a  lover 
of  floral  beauty  would  contemplate  with  satisfaction.  The 
regal   peon}',  the   double-dyed  dahlia,  and  the  gorgeous, 


THE  MEMOIR.  397 

fragrant  rose,  are  beautifal  in  their  places,  and  have  their 
appropriate  sphere  in  the  bouquet ;  but  after  all  you  shall 
find  that  the  delicate  violet ;  the  unassuming  pansy ;  the 
tiny  forget-me-not ;  and  the  sin-inking  bud,  just  open 
enough  to  reveal  the  beauties  of  the  hidden  petals,  are  the 
features  that  will  require  the  most  delicate  arrangement, 
and  upon  the  proper  distribution  and  exhibition  of  which 
the  whole  thing  will  depend  for  its  consummation  of  grace 
and  perfection.  And  so  it  is  with  the  human  character. 
Great  deeds,  such  as  are  generally  published  to  the  world, 
and  are  caught  up  and  passed  from  lip  to  lip,  show  very 
much  of  what  stutT  a  man  is  made  ;  but  if  you  would  look 
down  into  the  soul,  and  find  those  graces  of  disposition  and 
gems  of  the  heart  that  lift  the  man  heavenward,  you  must 
take  note  of  these  delicate,  unassuming,  tiny  flowers  that 
bloom  in  the  secret  places  of  home,  without  pride,  and  with- 
out thought  of  being  seen  of  men. 

My  thoughts  have  been  turned  in  this  direction  by  the 
following  poetical  morceaux.  The  first  is  from  Mr.  Cobb 
to  his  daughter  on  the  eighteenth  anniversary  of  her  birth- 
day, accompanied  by  six  golden  half-eagles  : 

IMPROMPTU  ACCOMPANIMENT. 

My  Daughter  !    What  a  name  to  write  ! 
It  fills  me  with  a  proud  delight. 
Respectful,  intellectual,  pure, 
Nought  shall  thy  soul  from  virtue  lure. 

Herewith  a  little  gift  you'll  find,  — 
Emblem,  instructive,  of  your  mind. 
More  rich,  be  sure,  than  gold  by  weight. 
The  mind,  uprising,  good  and  great. 

To  Miss  E.  H.  Cobb,  from  her  father  — 

Sylvands  Cobb. 
E.  Boston,  April  15,  1845. 
34 


398  nEF.    SYLVAXi'S     C'OBB^    D.D. 

To  this  the  affectionate  daughter  thus  replied  :  — 

"Lines  addressed  to  my  Father  on  receiving  prom  him  six  gold  pieces 
As^A  Freedom  Present." 

"With  heartfelt  pleasure  I  receive 

This  token  of  thy  kind  esteem; 
Highly  I'll  prize  this  gift  of  thine, 

And  may  I  not  ungrateful  seem. 

But  richer  far  those  words  to  me 

Which  speak  such  confidence  and  love ;  — 

My  utmost  aim  —  my  prayer  —  shall  be, 
Deserving  of  such  love  to  prove. 

As  thus  through  life  I  travel  on, 

In  virtue's  path,  with  nought  to  fear, 
To  God  my  voice  shall  be  attuned 
In  blessing  for  such  parents  dear. 

From  your  daughter, 

Eunice  H.  Cobb. 

CoMPEND  OF  Divinity.  —  In  the  old  Parsonage  Library 
at  Maiden  Mr.  Cobb  found  a  musty  volume,  written  by 
some  follower  of  John  Calvin,  the  title  of  which  contained 
the  word  "  Compend."  It  was  a  Compend  of  some  kind  of 
religious  tenets  ;  but  at  this  day  I  am  unable  to  give  more 
explicit  information,  as  my  onl}^  knowledge  of  the  book  has 
been  derived  from  remarks  I  have  heard  my  father  make. 
AVhen  Mr.  Cobb  had  looked  the  work  over  he  thought  Avhat 
a  good  thing  it  would  be  for  the  Student  of  Universalism 
to  have  a  book,  something  after  the  same  st3de,  giving  a 
thorough  and  concise  epitome  of  the  principles  of  our 
faith.  There  was  no  such  work  in  the  denomination,  nor 
was  there  anything  in  the  least  approximating  thereto. 
He  felt  this  need  the  more  directl}^  as  he  had  maii}^  students 
under  his  charge,  fitting  for  the  ministry  ;  and  in  explain- 
ing to  them  the  various  parts  of  our  system  of  theology 


THE   MEMOIR.  399 

such  a  book  would  not  onl}^  have  saved  him  much  labor, 
but  the  student  could  more  readily  and  clearly  have  grasped 
a  knowledge  of  the  principles  sought  after  from  a  concise 
and  comprehensive  work  which  he  could  have  studied  at 
his  leisure.  From  that  time  Mr.  Cobb  resolved  that  if  he 
ever  wrote  a  book,  it  should  be  a  Comjjerid  of  Christian 
Divinity  as  he  understood  it,  and  as  the  leading  Univer- 
salists  had  taught  it ;  and  thenceforth,  when  sermonizing, 
and  when  writing  theological  articles  for  the  press,  he  held 
this  thought  in  view,  so  that  when  he  finally  came  to  the 
work  of  preparing  the  manuscript  for  the  book,  he  had  much 
of  the  material  already  at  hand.* 

In  the  Spring  of  1845  Mr.  Cobb  went  at  the  work  in 
earnest,  and  by  the  close  of  the  j^ear  the  book  was  in  press. 
It  made  a  handsome  duodecimo  volume  of  more  than  four 
hundred  pages,  and  was  read}^  for  delivery  on  the  first  of 
Januarj^,  1846.  The  work  met  with  a  reception  which 
could  not  be  otherwise  than  flattering  to  the  author.  Those 
Universalists  who  had  occasion  for  a  book  of  reference  in 
argument  with  their  Trinitarian  opponents,  found  it  just 
what   they  needed ;    while  the  student  and  the  preacher 

*  While  residing  in  Waterville,  Me.,  Mr.  Cobb  conceived  some  such  plan  as 
was  perfected  in  this  work.  He  took  for  his  motto  the  words  of  Isaiah  :  "  To 
the  law  and  to  the  testimony .-  if  they  speak  not  according  to  this  word,  it  is 
because  there  is  no  li<jht  in  them^  And  under  this  general  head  he  went  on 
with  his  work.  He  commenced  at  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  and  went  through 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  to  the  last  chapter  of  Revelation,  taking  up  first 
the  Subject  of  Creation,  and  then  proceeding  in  regular  order,  taking  up  each 
important  subject  of  the  Divine  Record,  and  considering  it  in  the  light  of  those 
grand  principles  of  Wisdom,  Power,  and  Goodness  which  all  Christians  are 
willing  to  ascribe  to  Deity.  In  accomplishing  this  he  preached  about  eighty- 
sermons,  the  result  of  most  unremitting  toil,  study,  and  research,  displaying  a 
power  of  keen  perception  and  subtile  analysis,  which  surprised  even  those  who 
knew  him  most  intimately.  When  the  course  had  been  concluded  some  of  those 
who  had  heard  the  whole  were  most  anxious  that  the  sermons  should  be  pub- 
lished in  book  form,  feeling  assured  that  the  work  would  be  one  of  inestimable 
value  to  the  then  infant  denomination.  liad  Sir.  Cobb  acceded  to  this  request, 
the  world  would  have  had  even  then  something  very  nearly  approximating  to 

the  "  COMPEND  OF  CHKISTIAN  DlVlA'lTV." 


400  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

found  it  a  companion  of  much  value.  Father  Ballou  and 
Father  Streeter  each  took  occasion  to  write  for  publication 
an  extended  and  critical  article  of  hearty  approval  and 
commendation.  Father  Ballou  says,  —  "Could  I  have 
been  favored  fifty  years  ago  with  this  Compend  of  Divin- 
ity, how  light  would  have  been  my  labors  to  what  they 
were."  Father  Streeter  sa3^s,  —  "I  know  of  no  single 
work  which  surpasses  it  in  value  to  the  common  student 
of  Christianity."  The  press  throughout  New  England 
gave  favorable  notice  of  the  work,  and  so  far  as  its  recep- 
tion by  the  public  was  concerned,  the  author's  highest 
anticipations  were  more  than  realized. 

I  well  remember  that  when  Mr.  Cobb  had  seen  the  last  of 
the  manuscript  of  the  Compend  in  the  hands  of  the  printer, 
he  promised  himself  a  respite  from  arduous  labor  ;  but  his 
"respite"  must  have  consisted  in  the  thought  that  a  labor 
which  he  had  contemplated  for  years  had  been  accom- 
plished ;  for  I  remember  perfectly  well  that  he  turned 
directly  from  the  printer's  proof  of  his  book  to  other  work, 
taking  not  one  additional  hour  from  the  twenty-four  for 
social  or  physical  recreation. 


THE   MEMOIR,  401 


CHAPTER  X. 

Characteristics  as  a  Cosmopolitan,  —  Death  of  his 
Brother  Cyrus,  —  Transfer  of  the  "Gospel  Foun- 
tain," —  Characteristics  as  an  Editor,  —  The  one 
Great  Victory  of  his  Life, — Universalist  Reform 
Association,  —  Speeches,  —  A  Political  Anecdote. 

By  referring  to  the  record  I  find  that  Mr.  Cobb  was  con- 
tinually upon  the  move  during  the  year  1846,  and  the  first 
half  of  1847,  and  that  many  of  his  trips  bore  important 
results.  He  preached  in  many  new  places,  and  delivered 
man}-  lectures  upon  reform  subjects  in  different  parts  of 
Kew  England.  I  find  him  one  week  in  Connecticut ;  an- 
other in  Rhode  Island  ;  the  next  in  New  Hampshire  ;  and 
then  off*  down  upon  the  banks  of  the  Penobscot,  preaching 
in  Bangor,  and  delivering  a  Fourth  of  July  oration  in 
Orono.  It  would  be  pleasant,  if  we  had  time  and  space, 
to  follow  him  in  some  of  these  peregrinations  ;  but  as  they 
have  little  to  do  with  the  matter  I  am  anxious  to  present, 
I  shall  pass  them  by  with  the  simple  remark  that  he  en- 
deavored "  to  do  good  and  to  communicate"  wherever  he 
went,  holding  the  good  of  the  community  paramount  to 
any  selfish  end,  and  striving  to  return  to  the  Master  a  good 
account  of  the  talents  which  had  been  entrusted  to  his 
keeping. 

I  cannot  forbear  mentioning  in  this  connection,  that  dur- 
ing the  many  years  of  Mr.  Cobb's  extensive  and  continu- 
34* 


402  EEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D, 

ous  travelling  he  never,  to  my  knowledge,  met  with  direct 
insult  from  any  person.  In  some  few  cases,  while  acting 
as  agent  of  the  Middlesex  County  Temperance  Society,  he 
may  have  received  some  hard  words  from  those  whose  craft 
was  in  danger  from  his  teaching  ;  but  even  in  those  cases  he 
never  left  a  man  until  he  had  succeeded  in  touching  a  more 
sensible  cord  in  his  bosom.  His  own  deportment  was  al- 
ways kind  and  gentlemanly  towards  all,  and  he  was  never 
in  his  long  life,  from  early  boyhood  to  the  day  of  his  death, 
so  heated  by  passion  from  any  cause  whatever  as  to  be  led 
to  make  use  of  an  opprobrious  epithet,  or  vindictive  re- 
joinder, to  an  opponent.  To  use  a  common  expression, 
"  He  alwaj^s  carried  a  civil  tongue  in  his  head."  He  re- 
garded no  man  for  his  worldly  wealth  or  honor.  It  was  the 
internal,  and  not  the  external,  qualifications  of  a  man  that 
recommended  him  to  his  favor  and  esteem ;  hence  he  was 
led  to  regard  every  man,  no  matter  how  humble  his  appear- 
ance, as  good  and  true  until  circumstances  had  proved  the 
contrary.  His  religion  was  not  to  him  a  mere  form  of  be- 
lief and  profession ;  but  it  was  an  absolute  and  defacto 
power  of  life,  giving  tone  to  his  thoughts,  and  direction  to 
his  steps.  No  matter  how  torn  and  tattered  the  rags  that 
covered  a  child  of  humanity,  —  if  he  was  an  honorable  man, 
reduced  by  misfortune,  he  was  no  less  a  man  on  account  of 
his  poverty ;  and  if  he  was  a  fallen  brother,  sunk  in  the 
slough  of  sin  and  shame,  Mr.  Cobb's  religion  taught  him 
to  stop  by  that  man's  side,  and  put  forth  a  helping  hand. 
A  man  so  governed  in  his  daily  life  would  not  be  likely  to 
excite  any  one  to  wrath  or  vindictiveness  ;  and  as  he  never 
chanced  to  come  in  contact  with  a  frenzied  maniac  or  prowl- 
ing highwayman,  he  lived  his  life  without  being  called  upon 
to  meet  any  grievous  assault,  either  by  way  of  opprobrious 
speech  or  personal  violence. 


THE   MEMOIR.  403 

On  the  eighteentli  day  of  November,  1847,  Mr.  Cobb's 
elder  brother  Cyrus,  who,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  taken 
the  old  homestead,  met  with  an  accidental  death  by  falling 
from  one  of  the  high  beams  of  his  barn.  He  had  not  only 
been  a  true  and  loving  brother,  ever  extending  a  warm  and 
cheerful  welcome  to  those  who  came  to  visit  the  paternal 
mansion  ;  but  he  had  been  one  of  the  most  valued  and  hon- 
ored citizens  of  the  town  of  Norway,  trusted  with  impor- 
tant offices,  and  looked  up  to  for  advice  and  counsel  in  the 
conduct  of  municipal  affairs.  He  left  a  widow  and  four 
children  to  mourn  his  loss,  and  a  cloud  of  sadness  settled 
upon  the  hearts  of  the  people,  which  remained  for  a  long 
time. 

I  took  the  letter  from  the  post-office  which  bore  this  mel- 
ancholy intelligence,  and  on  the  way  over  in  the  ferry-boat 
I  read  it.  I  found  my  father  in  his  study  when  I  reached 
home,  and  I  remarked,  as  I  handed  to  him  the  missive,  that 
his  brother  Cyi'us  had  been  called  to  his  rest.  I  knew  that 
between  the  two  brothers  there  had  ever  existed  a  warm, 
enduring  love,  based  upon  firm  and  unyielding  devotion, 
and  I  wondered  how  my  father  would  take  the  news.  He 
read  the  letter  carefully  through  ;  not  a  muscle  of  his  face 
betraying  any  spasmodic  action  within ;  then  he  laid  it 
down,  and  turned  towards  me.  There  was  a  movement  of 
the  lips,  but  no  speech.  In  silence  he  arose  to  his  feet,  and 
paced  to  and  fro  across  the  floor  several  times,  until  finally 
he  stopped  by  my  side.  Then  he  brushed  his  hand  across 
his  ej'CS,  and  in  a  voice  scarcely  raised  above  a  whisper  he 
said,  — 

"  He  was  a  good  brother,  —  a  true  man.  God  will  bless 
him ! " 

And  he  sufi'ered  himself  to  speak  no  more  until  the  first 
surge  of  grief  had  passed  away.     It  was  a  mighty  emotion 


404  nEV.    SYLVAKUS    C0J3B,   D.D. 

that  stirred  his  soul ;  and  I  thought  as  I  saw  the  strongman 
weep  in  humble  resignation,  how  grand  it  is  to  mourn  in  a 
faith  that  takes  sure  hold  upon  the  paternal  love  of  God. 

In  the  month  of  Jul}^,  1847,  Mr.  Cobb  purchased  the 
subscription  list  of  the  "  Gospel  Fountain^''  a  Universalist 
paper,  printed  at  Lowell,  and  j)u]blished  in  "  Lowell,  Mass., 
and  Nashua,  N.  H."  Br.  William  Bell  had  been  publishing 
the  paper,  but  he  found  it  rather  more  of  a  load  than  he 
could  carry,  and  knowing  that  Mr.  Cobb's  shoulders  were 
broa4,  he  turned  the  burden  over  to  him.  And  so  the 
Christian  Fkeeman  came  to  embrace  New  Hampshire 
within  its  purchased  territory.  Its  list  was  swelled,  and  it 
gained  addition  to  its  limits  of  circulation  ;  but  in  a  pecuni- 
ary point  of  view,  Mr.  Cobb  gained  nothing.  Still  he  ful- 
filled his  contract,  and  the  "  Fountain'^  subscribers  had  the 
privilege  of  reading  now  and  then  an  article  on  the  Reforma- 
tory side  of  Christianity^,  a  privilege  which  some  of  them, 
if  I  remember  rightly,  took  with  many  wry  faces,  as  sick 
children  take  medicine. 

I  had  intended  to  devote  this  chapter  to  a  consideration 
of  Mr.  Cobb's  influence  towards  bringing  the  Universalist 
denomination  to  its  present  high  and  noble  stand  upon  the 
great  reform  movements  of  the  age.  In  the  introductory 
chapter  I  claimed  that  the  crowning  work  of  Mr.  Cobb's 
life  was  the  part  he  bore  in  the  identification  of  the  denom- 
ination of  Christians  to  which  he  belonged  with  the  spirit 
of  the  Temperance  and  Anti-Slavery  Reforms ;  and  so  I 
hold  it  to  have  been.  It  is  not  saying  too  much  to  say  that 
Sylvanus  Cobb  did  more  to  this  end  than  any  other  man. 
We  have  seen  what  was  the  spirit  of  the  pulpit  and  of  the 
press  when  he  issued  the  prospectus  for  his  paper,  and  we 
know  what  it  is  to-day.  Even  at  the  breaking  out  of  the 
late  war  a  Universalist  minister  who  should  have  refused  to 


THE  MEMOIR.  405 

vote  for  the  strongest  kind  of  an  Anti-Slavery  resolution, 
couched  in  proper  language,  and  dictated  by  the  Christian 
spirit,  would  have  been  looked  upon  as  a  man  who  had  got 
most  sadly  misplaced.  And  who  has  done  all  this  ?  There 
must  have  been  some  strong  power  at  work ;  and  there 
must  have  been  some  strong  men  wielding  that  power. 
And  more  still,  —  those  men  must  have  been  at  work  within 
the  body  of  the  denomination  ;  for,  as  I  have  already  had 
occasion  to  show,  those  men  who  "  come  out "  from  a  body 
have  no  longer  power  within  it ;  so  that  those  ultra  reform- 
ers, who  cast  off  the  social  bonds  and  kick  themselves  clear 
of  really  good  institutions  which  they  fancy  do  not  move 
fast  enough,  seldom  accomplish  anything  beyond  the  gain- 
ing of  now  and  then  a  proselyte.  The  very  nature  of  the 
position  they  occupy  precludes  the  possibility  of  their  mould- 
ing the  opinions  of  society,  or  of  purifying  institutions 
which  they  spurn  and  denounce.  They  make  a  noise  and 
bluster  in  the  world,  as  do  the  lightning-bolts  that  flash  and 
stream  and  burst  in  the  sky  ;  but  the  electricity  that  works 
for  man's  use,  surely  and  safely,  is  gathered  in  well-ordered 
batteries,  subject  to  rational  control,  and  goes  forth  upon 
its  mission  of  usefulness,  confined  to  the  highways  and  by- 
ways which  sense  and  judgment  have  established  for  its 
transit. 

As  I  write  these  pages  it  seems  hard  for  me  to  realize 
that  a  new  generation  has  come  upon  the  stage  since  Mr. 
Cobb  established  the  Christian  Freeman.  It  is  easy  for 
me  to  trace  the  growth  of  the  spirit  of  Reform  in  the  de- 
nomination ;  but  when  I  come  to  reflect  that  there  are  men 
and  women  engaged  in  the  active  business  of  life  to-day 
who  had  not  yet  been  born  in  that  day,  I  am  led  to  believe 
that  they  may  not  fully  understand  to  whom  they  are  in- 
debted for  the  blessings  they  find  prepared  for  them  as  they 


40G  nEV.     SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

step  forth  upon  the  stage  of  active  being.  And  that  such 
ma}^  know  who  has  been  earnestly  and  patiently  laboring 
during  all  these  3'ears  of  gradual  change,  let  us  look  at  the 
record. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  a  simple  fiict  of  history  that  the 
Christian  Freeman  was  established  on  purpose  to  supply 
a  desideratum,  —  to  furnish  to  the  Universalist  denomina- 
tion a  paper  which  should  discuss  the  subjects  of  Temper- 
ance and  Anti-Slavery,  —  and  that  it  was  for  some  years 
the  only  Universalist  paper  which  even  admitted  such  dis- 
cussion to  its  columns.  In  the  second  place,  we  all  know 
that  a  paper  must  depend  for  its  general  tone  and  character 
upon  its  editor ;  and  I  might  quote  many  articles,  from 
the  pens  of  our  first  men,  to  show  how  Mr.  Cobb  w^as  held 
by  the  discriminating  joortion  of  the  public  as  an  editor ; 
but  I  have  not  the  space.  Suffice  it  for  me  to  say  that  the 
fathers  of  our  denomination  recognized  in  him  a  proper 
type  of  the  true  Christian  editor,  and  so  expressed  them- 
selves over  their  own  signatures. 

I  have  been  tempted  to  reproduce  here  several  extracts 
to  show  the  spirit  in  which  Mr.  Cobb  conducted  his  paper ; 
but  as  my  space  is  limited,  and  as  the  articles  to  which  my 
attention  has  been  particularly  directed  are  somewhat 
lengthy,  I  will  only  say,  that  no  man  ever  occupied  the 
chair  editorial  who  more  deeply  realized  the  sacredness  of 
*'  Editorial  Responsibility  "  than  did  he  ;  and  while  he  stood 
up  boldl}^  and  manfully  for  the  "  Freedom  of  the  Press,''  he 
never  lost  sight  of  those  proper  bounds  beyond  which  the 
true  moral  teacher  should  not  allow  his  passions  or  his  pre- 
judices to  betra}'  him.  He  maintained  that  it  was  his  duty, 
as  a  Christian  Editor,  to  speak  out  against  all  wrong  ;  and 
while,  as  an  independent  man,  he  should  exercise  his  own 
judgment  touching  the  extent  and  character  of  his  opposi- 


THE   MEMOIR.  407 

tion,  lie  would  not  forget  that  there  were  bounds  of  propri- 
ety within  the  limits  of  which  he  should  circumscribe  him- 
self. Did  a  man  send  to  him  to  have  his  paper  stopped  on 
account  of  its  Anti-Slavery  articles,  he  granted  the  request ; 
but  he  did  not  lessen  his  opposition  to  the  giant  evil.  He 
could  not  look  upon  chattel  slavery,  in  any  light  whatever, 
without  being  struck  with  horror,  and,  firmly  believing  that 
Christianity  was  utterly  opposed  to  it,  in  every  way  and 
shape,  he  spared  no  pains  towards  bringing  the  spirit  and 
power  of  the  denomination  of  Universalists  to  bear  against 
it.  And  here  let  me  say  to  the  younger  portion  of  my 
readers  that  this  was  before  the  time  of  our  glorious  Re- 
form Festivals.  The  Universalists,  as  a  denomination,  had 
never,  in  that  da}^,  made  any  public  demonstration  signify- 
ing that  they  had  any  attachment  to  the  Reform  Spirit  of 
the  age. 

The  first  meeting  of  "  Tlie  Universalist  General  Reform 
Association^''  was  held  during  the  month  of  May,  1847,  and 
the  concluding  cerem'ony  was  a  Breakfast^  partaken  of  at 
Washingtonian  Hall,  in  Bromfield  Street,  at  eight  o'clock 
on  the  morning  of  the  28th.  About  two  hundred  were  pres- 
ent, and  Father  Ballou  made  the  opening  prayer.  The  day 
was  pleasant,  and  the  occasion  was  a  joyous  one.  Man}^  of 
the  brethren  had  come  up  to  this  first  meeting  of  the  Asso- 
ciation with  fears  that  it  might  be  a  failure.  Some  had 
prophesied  that  such  a  demonstration  of  Reformatory  ten- 
dencies, and  the  recognition  of  such  elements  as  proper 
constituents  of  the  denominational  body,  would  be  danger- 
ous in  the  extreme.  Our  good  Br.  Adams,  then  of  Mai- 
den, in  his  speech  at  the  breakfast-table  alluded  to  these 
prophesies  of  failure,  but  it  did  not  look  like  a  failure  to 
him.  It  looked  like  the  beginning  of  good  things  —  a  be- 
ginning with  good  hearts  and  strong  souls  —  a  beginning 


408  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

based  on  God's  truths,  and  with  the  strongest  desire  that 
God's  truth  should  prevail.  Filled  with  the  spirit  of  the 
occasion,  and  with  a  countenance  made  resplendent  by  the 
emotions  within,  he  electrified  the  audience  as  he  repeated 
the  lines,  — 

"  On  !   Let  all  the  powers  within  you 
For  the  Truth's  sake  go  abroad  ! 
Strike  !  Let  every  nerve  and  sinew 
Tell  on  ages  !  —  tell  for  God  ! " 

And  that  Breakfast,  in  Washingtonian  Hall,  twenty 
years  ago,  was  the  new-born  child  that  has  since  grown 
into  our  glorious  Reform  Festivals.  And  here,  Dear 
Reader,  let  us  indulge  for  one  moment  in  sober  thought. 
To  whom  are  we  indebted,  as  a  denomination,  for  these 
grand  social  gatherings  with  their  spirit  and  power  of 
moral  and  spiritual  good?  You  can  see  that  the  whole 
thing  is  the  offspring  of  Refoem.  As  we  gather  about 
that  festive  board  now,  after  the  lapse  of  two-score  3'ears, 
and  feel  what  a  glorious  heritage  of 'faith  is  ours  —  a  faith 
that  takes  within  its  broad  grasp  every  son  and  daughter 
of  Adam  —  a  faith  that  takes  to  itself  as  its  own  legit- 
imate forces  all  that  can  tend  to  elevate  man  and  bless 
him  —  a  faith  that  holds  the  aegis  of  Human  Liberty  as  the 
rightful  inheritance  of  every  man  to  shield  him  from 
oppression  and  wrong  —  a  faith  which  makes  better  and 
happier  all  who  possess  it,  —  as  we  feel  all  this,  do  we  ask 
ourselves,  whence  came  the  heritage  ?  Who  labored  long 
and  earnestly  ?  —  who  toiled  without  ceasing  ?  —  who  per- 
severed and  worked  on,  opposed  b}^  friends  who  feared  dis- 
sension in  our  ranks,  and  b}^  enemies  whose  craft  was  in 
danger?  —  who  did  all  this  that  the  Universalist  denomina- 
tion might  be  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  Reform,  and  identify 
itself  with  the  great  principles  of  True  Life  and  Huniaii 
Liberty  ? 


THE   MEMOIR.  409 

Now  in  his  quiet  office,  by  the  midnight  lamp,  writing 
his  editorials  for  Temperance  and  Freedom ;  anon  in  the 
country,  lifting  up  his  voice  in  behalf  of  the  down  trodden 
and  the  oppressed  ;  then  warm  in  battle  with  the  opposers 
of  Progress  and  Reform ;  hard  at  work  always,  and  with 
the  one  great  end  in  view ;  trusting,  hoping,  praying,  and 
striving  for  the  blessings  we  now  enjoy.  Surely  the  editor 
of  the  Christian  Freeman  did  something  towards  gaining 
for  us  the  glorious  heritage.  And  when  you  next  sit  at  the 
festive  board  of  the  Universalist  Reform  Association,  will 
you  not  turn  one  grateful  thought  to  the  memory  of  him 
who  now  rests  from  his  labors,  and  who  was  at  least  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  institution  j^ou  so  highly  prize  ? 

No  man  was  ever  able  to  make  Mr.  Cobb  understand  why 
he  should  hold  his  politics  separate  from  his  religion.  He 
believed  that  if  there  was  any  one  place  more  than  another 
where  was  needed  the  renovating  and  life-giving  power  of 
Christianity,  it  was  at  the  ballot-box.  First  to  his  God  — 
then  to  his  Country.  And  how  could  he  do  his  duty  to  his 
country  without  the  governing  spirit  of  his  religion.  At 
one  of  the  Festivals  of  the  Reform  Association  he  made  a 
speech,  an  extract  of  which  will  come  in  here  very  perti- 
nently. The  subject  under  discussion  was  Slavery ;  but 
not  introduced  by  him.  Other  brethren  had  eloquently 
described  the  sinful  character  of  Slavery,  and  pictured  in 
startling  colors  the  alarming  encroachments  of  the  slave 
power,  when  Mr.  Cobb  arose.  The  following  is  the  con- 
cluding part  of  his  speech  as  given  by  the  Reporter  :  — 

*'  I  would  have  all  Christians  act  upon  the  moral  principles  of 
Christianity  in  all  their  relations, — certainly  in  political  rela- 
tions, which  are  among  the  most  important.  There  can  never 
be  a  reform  of  the  evils  and  abuses  complained  of,  which  if  un- 
checked will  soon  destroy  our  country,  until  the  old  political 
35 


410  REV.   SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D, 

parties  are  broken  up,  or  abandoned,  and  the  people  act  as  a 
great  Christian  and  American  people,  on  Christian  and  Amer- 
ican principles.  As  matters  are  now  conducted,  we  might  as 
well  let  the  little  knots  of  trading  politicians  in  their  respective 
districts  appoint  all  the  officers,  and  the  people  stay  at  home  and 
take  the  consequences.  In  every  section  there  are  knots  of 
trading  politicians,  or  political  gamesters,  who  make  of  this 
game  their  living.  They  care  no  more  for  the  question  of  right, 
or  for  the  moral  and  social  interest  of  the  people,  than  the  tech- 
nical gambler.  They  arrange  among  themselves  as  to  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  offices;  and  when  the  caucus  is  assembled, 
though  a  few  of  the  honest  people  may  be  there,  these  game- 
sters are  expert  in  the  tactics  of  their  profession,  they  are 
instant  to  get  up  the  organization  from  among  themselves, 
including  the  nominating  committee  to  serve  their  purpose. 
Their  nomination  being  made,  the  people  have  nothing  to  do  but 
to  ivalk  straight  up  to  the  ballot-box,  and-^ote  the  nomination. 
It  is  the  law  of  the  parties  that  every  member  shall  vote  the 
regular  nomination,  or  suffer  capital  punishment.  It  would  be 
just  as  well,  and  would  be  a  great  saving  of  time  and  expense, 
for  each  member  of  the  party  to  have  a  man  of  straw  prepared 
as  his  rei)resentative,  and  placed  outside  of  his  front  door  elec- 
tion-day morning,  labelled  Whig  or  Democrat,  and  let  the 
political  leaders  gather  up  these  straw  men,  each  according  to 
the  label,  and  cart  them  to  the  polls,  and  shake  out  into  the 
ballot-box  the  vote  that  shall  be  placed  in  their  fingers. 

"This  voting  the  regular  nomination  is  all  well  enough,  when 
all  is  right  at  head-quarters.  But  the  people  must  see  to  it  that 
their  own  sentiments  are  represented,  and  their  moral  principles 
are  not  outraged.  They  must  teach  the  party  leaders  that  unless 
they  put  in  nomination  good  and  true  men,  known  to  be  trust- 
worthy for  their  integrity  to  just  and  upright  principles  and 
measures,  they  shall  find  themselves  alone,  despised  and  re- 
jected. In  this  way  onl}^  can  the  lamented  evils  which  prey 
uj)on  us  be  removed,  and  greater  evils  be  prevented. 

"  To  illustrate  the  manner  of  political  management,  and  en- 
slavement to  party,  I  will,  said  Mr.  Cobb,  if  my  friends  will  ex- 
cuse the  seeming  egotism,  relate  an  item  in  my  own  experience. 
I  was  once  and  again,  for  some  reason  or  other,  constituted  a 
member  of  the  Legislature  of  Maine.     When  I  had  occupied  a 


THE  MEMOIR.  411 

seat  in  that  body  a  short  time,  a  certain  question  was  acted  upon, 
and  I  voted  as  I  pleased.  A  day  or  two  after  I  received  a  note 
from  an  honorable  Senator,  an  old  Universalist  friend,  requesting 
a  call  upon  him  in  a  given  lobby  at  a  given  hour.  I  promptly 
complied.  *  It  is  reported,'  said  my  friend,  '  that  you  voted  so 
and  so  on  such  a  question.  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  contra- 
dict the  report,  but  I  thought  I  would  have  the  contradiction 
from  your  own  mouth.'  '  Then,'  said  I,  '  you  owe  it  to  truth  and 
to  me  to  correct,  forthwith,  your  misrepresentation  of  me.' 
*  But  I  thought,'  he  said  with  great  earnestness,  '  that  you  were 
of  our  party  .' '  'Of  whose  party  ?  '  I  inquired.  *  I  thought  you 
were  a  Democrat.''  '  And  I  am  a  Democrat,'  I  said  with  empha- 
sis ;  *a  Democrat  upon  principle;  and  hence  the  vote  I  have 
cast.'  And  I  proceeded  to  show  him  that  mine  was  the  true 
Democratic  jDrinciple  in  the  case.  *  Yes,  yes,'  said  he,  '  I  see  it. 
But  then  we  must  go  for  our  party. "^  *  Indeed,'  I  replied  with  in- 
dignation, *  if  you  sui^pose  I  have  come  here  to  be  tied  as  a  bob- 
tail to  the  kite  of  a  party,  so  that  when  my  constituents  ask  me 
why  I  acted  thus  and  so,  I  can  give  no  other  reason  than  that 
my  party  did  so !  —  you  mistake  your  man.'  And  he  troubled 
me  no  more. 

'*  But  when  a  man  is  thus  arraigned,  who  is  looking  for  polit- 
ical preferment,  and  feels  dependent  on  the  power  of  his  party, 
what  is  he  to  do  ?  Aye,  what  is  he  to  do  ?  Let  the  people  tell 
him  what  to  do.  Let  their  conduct  assure  him  that  if  he  mil 
stand  up  as  a  man,  and  maintain  the  right,  tJiey  will  take  care 
of  his  preferment ;  and  that  otherwise,  the}^  will  shake  him  off 
as  a  viper  from  their  hands. 

"  I  tell  you,  my  friends,  we  must  cast  the  party  divinities  to 
the  moles  and  the  bats,  and  be  a  Christian  people  in  our  political 
relations  and  actions.  Then  shall  our  country  be  saved,  and 
posterity  rise  up  and  call  us  blessed." 

That  was  Mr.  Cobb's  position  as  a  politician.  Upon  all 
questions  involving  the  moral  duty  of  the  country-,  or  of 
the  individuals  composing  the  government  thereof,  he  knew 
no  politics  but  Christianity  ;  and  on  all  questions  of  purely 
a  political  nature,  having  to  do  with  measures  for  promot- 
ing the  thrift  and  success  of  the  people,  and  developing 


412  nEV.    SYLVAXUS     COBD^    D.D. 

the  material  wealth  of  the  country,  he  knew  no  politics  but 
Right.  That  was  his  ground,  and  he  never  swerved  from 
it.  He  never  took  advantage  of  the  ministerial  garb  be- 
neath which  to  conceal  his  party  preferences.  He  regarded 
man's  political  dut}^  as  one  of  the  highest  and  most  sacred, 
and  he  would  perform  it  openly  and  boldly,  and  speak  out 
thereupon  when  he  deemed  that  occasion  required. 


THE  MEMOIR,  413 


CHAPTER  XI. 

QUAXIFICATIONS  FOR  A  LEADER, ARTICLES  OF  CONDEMNA- 
TION AND  Justification, — The  Compromise  of  1850, — 
"Assaults  upon  the  Clergy,"  —  His  true  Conserva- 
tism, —  The  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  —  A  Demise  down 
South,  —  Builders  upon  Foundation,  —  Result  of 
^  the  Record. 

Any  man,  possessing  a  fair  degree  of  intellect,  and  moved 
by  zeal  and  earnestness,  with  the  accompaniments  of  wiU 
and  perseverance,  may  succeed  in  raising  a  sect,  or  party, 
to  follow  him  into  even  the  most  wild  and  whimsical  paths. 
No  soi-disant  reformer  was  ever  yet  so  extravagant  and 
rabid  that  he  could  not  find  proselytes.  But  the  man  who 
would  help  lead  a  numerous  body  of  staid,  respectable,  and 
intellectual  Christians  up  to  a  new  and  higher  stand-point 
of  moral  and  social  truth  must  needs  be  the  possessor  of 
stern  and  sterling  qualities  of  head  and  heart.  He  must 
not  only  himself  be  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
his  mission,  but  he  must  be  a  careful  and  candid  student 
of  human  nature  ;  a  cool,  comprehensive  reasoner  ;  and  he 
must  be  willing  to  accept  society-as  he  finds  it,  and  make 
the  best  use  of  such  instrumentalities  as  come  to  his  hand. 

Now  we  claim  that  Mr.  Cobb  possessed  all  these  quali- 
ties in  a  high  degree.  He  was  never  inclined  to  fly  off  on  a 
tangent ;  but  there  was  enough  of  conservatism  in  his  na- 
ture to  give  proper  centripetal  force  to  his  reformatory 
35* 


414  EEV.    SYLVAXUS    COBB^    D.D. 

moYcmeuts.  The  chief  centre  of  his  aim  was  the  good  of 
man,  and  he  allowed  no  wild  longing  after  impossible  things 
to  break  the  attraction  that  held  him  within  the  circle  of 
judgment  and  common  sense.  As  I  have  before  remarked, 
had  his  mind  in  youth  taken  a  turn  to  the  study  of  Law 
instead  of  Divinity,  he  would  have  made  a  most  able  and 
reliable  judge.  All  his  tendencies  of  thought  and  action 
eminently  fitted  him  for  such  a  position.  But  he  found  his 
true  place  outside  the  legal  bar.  His  it  was  to  be  a  leader 
in  the  Universalist  denomination  ;  and  he  was  a  safe  one. 
None  who  knew  him  feared  to  trust  him.  When  the  giants 
of  the  Orthodox  school  of  theology  led  their  hosts  against 
the  citadel  of  Universalism,  all  were  willing  that  Sylvanus 
Cobb  should  take  the  field  against  them.  Let  Orthodoxy 
send  forth  its  strongest  man,  and  when  it  was  known  that 
Mr.  Cobb  had  gone  out  to  meet  him,  all  fears  for  the  result 
were  banished. 

And  as  it  was  in  the  field  of  theology  so  it  was  in  the 
field  of  Reform  ;  only  in  the  latter  case  he  had  more  to  con- 
tend against ;  for  not  only  were  the  open  enemies  of  Liberty 
and  Equality  arrayed  against  him,  but  of  his  own  denomi- 
national household  there  were  many  who  would  hold  him 
back,  and  who  did  really  "  give  aid  and  comfort  to  the 
enemy." 

In  this  chapter  it  is  my  purpose  to  pursue  the  theme  in- 
troduced into  the  one  preceding  —  showing  how  Mr.  Cobb, 
by  his  steady,  untiring,  and  persistent  course,  tempered 
with  moderation  and  kindness,  did  his  part  towards  bring- 
ing the  Universalist  denomination  to  the  high  and  noble 
stand  it  now  occupies  in  the  world  of  moral  and  social  Re- 
form. 

In  the  Spring  of  1846  the  "  Star  in  the  West,"  a  Univer- 


THE  MEMOIR.  '  415 

salist  paper  published  by  Mr.  Gurley,  put  fortb  the  follow- 
ing complimentary  notice :  — 

*'  CHRISTIAN  FREEMAN. 

**  This  paper  is  published  in  Boston,  is  a  trifle  larger  than  the 
*Star,^  well  printed,  and  sells  at  $2  per  year.  Br.  S.  Cobb  is 
editor;  and  he  is  assisted  by  the  able  pen  of  Br.  H.  Bacon,  who 
is  editor  of  the  *  Ladies^  Bepository .''  It  is  devoted  to  the  cause 
of  Universalism,  and  contains  the  passing  news  of  the  day,  and 
good  miscellaneous  articles  for  family  reading.  We  regard  Br. 
Cobb  as  an  able  man  ;  a  critical,  although  (like  many  of  us)  not 
a  very  polished  writer.  He  publishes  and  preaches  very  sound 
doctrine  —  and  we  look  upon  him  as  very  Orthodox  in  theology. 
We  are  compelled,  however,  to  dissent  from  his  policy  on  the 
subject  of  slaveiy  —  fully  believing  that  his  keeping  in  his  paper 
the  abolition  question  promineut,  can  do  no  good  but  must  result 
in  harm.  And  his  late  advice  to  our  preachers  to  either  preach 
what  we  should  call  modern  abolitionism  at  the  South,  or  stay 
away  from  it,  we  consider  perfectly  suicidal,  and  not  at  all  in 
correspondence  with  his  general  good  sense,  or  the  teachings 
and  example  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles.  He  thinks  differently 
of  course ;  and  everybody  knows  that  he  has  just  as  good  a  right 
to  his  opinion  as  I  have  to  mine.  We  wish  him,  and  all  our  edi- 
tors, great  success  in  infusing  into  the  lump  of  humanity  the 
leaven  of  the  gospel,  which  shall  finally  leaven  the  whole  lump, 
and  purge  out  whatever  is  impure  and  unholy." 

To  this  Mr.  Cobb  replied  in  his  usual  straightforward, 
brotherly  manner.  First,  he  gracefully  acknowledges  the 
complimentary  portion,  and  then  proceeds  to  explain  to  his 
Brother  Gurley  the  true  bearing  of  the  "  Christian  Princi- 
ple^'' and  to  examine  into  the  proper  methods  of  promulgat- 
ing those  principles,  even  among  slaveholders.  He  does 
not  believe  that  this  Christian  Principle  can  be  carried  to 
the  hearts  of  men  with  any  degree  of  saving  or  redeeming 
power  by  allowing  it  to  close  its  discriminating  vision  to 
any  great  sin.     Once  admit  that  a  certain  thing  is  abso- 


416  BEV.    SYLFANUS    COBB,   D.D. 

lately  wrong,  and  we  can  gain  nothing  for  our  religion  by 
attempting  to  wink  that  wrong  out  of  sight.  But  the  Ed- 
itor of  the  Freeman  finds  ready  at  hand  a  crushing  rejoin- 
der to  his  timid  brother's  fears  of  harm  from  the  keeping  of 
the  abolition  question  prominent  in  his  columns.  He  copies 
from  C.  M.  Clay's  paper,  published  in  Lexington,  Kentucky, 
an  article  in  which  is  considered  the  subject  of  the  passage 
of  an  Anti-Slavery  protest  and  resolutions  by  the  Univer- 
salist  Convention,  wherein  and  whereby  he  is  enabled  to 
directly  show  to  Br.  Gurley  that  Mr.  Clay,  in  a  Slave  State, 
where  no  Universalist  clergyman  is  laboring,  bestows  a 
generous  praise  upon  the  Universalist  denomination  be- 
cause of  this  outspoken  spirit  of  hostility  to  slavery  ;  and 
Mr.  Cobb  is  furthermore  enabled  to  show  that  all  noble 
minds  must  give  their  respect  to  that  body  of  Christians 
who  square  their  speech  and  actions  by  the  true  spirit  of 
the  religion  they  profess. 

Mr.  Cobb's  most  violent  opposer  never  thought  of  calling 
in  question  his  love  of  Universalism.  No  man  could  know 
him  intimately  without  discovering  that  Universalism  was 
the  one  power  of  earth  that  he  worshipped ;  and  he  wor- 
shipped it  because  he  believed  its  spirit  was  of  God.  And 
then,  in  these  years  of  his  stalwart  manhood  he  had  a  most 
undoubted  right  to  claim  and  exercise  a  little  authority  in 
the  Universalist  ranks.  He  had  been  not  only  one  among 
the  first  of  its  preachers,  but  he  had  been  one  of  the  faith- 
ful husbandmen  who  had  sowed  the  seed  in  new  places.  In 
these  years  of  which  I  write  there  were  all  over  New  Eng- 
land flourishing  societies  that  had  grown  up  from  the  seed 
which  he  had  placed  in  the  soil,  and  there  were  talented 
and  hard-working  brethren  of  the  faith  who  had  gained 
from  him  the  light  that  guided  their  religious  steps.  So  he 
had  a  right  to  love  the  household  of  the  faith ;  he  had  a 


THE  MEMOIR.  417 

right  to  assume  one  of  the  humble  places  of  leadership : 
and  thus  loving,  and  thus  leading,  who  shall  sa}^  that  he 
had  not  the  right  to  labor  for  what  he  honestly  believed  to 
be  the  legitimate  aim  of  the  blessed  gospel  ?  But  there  is  no 
need  at  this  day  that  we  should  defend  his  course.  Thank 
God  !  events  have  proved  that  he  was  right ;  and  under  the 
light  we  now  enjoy  there  lives  not  a  man  worthy  the  name 
of  Christian  who  would  wish  to  deny  it. 

At  this  point  I  have  been  hesitating.  I  have  at  hand  a 
long  denunciatory  article  from  the  "  Liberator"  severely 
berating  Mr.  Cobb  for  his  "  conservatism,"  with  the  reply 
thereto ;  but  I  will  not  give  it  place  here.  Suffice  it  for 
me  to  say  that  the  editor  of  the  Freeman  met  with  even 
more  abuse  from  the  "  extremists"  or  '^ come-outers"  than 
he  did  from  the  pro-slavery  party.  They  saw  that  he  was 
wielding  much  influence,  and  that  the  result  of  his  labors, 
if  persevered  in,  must  be  to  bring  the  church  up  to  the  true 
Reformatory  stand-point.  Now  these  hot-headed  men  had 
made  it  an  article  in  their  creed  that  the  church  and  the 
clergy,  together  with  the  institutions  they  upheld,  were 
really  stumbling-blocks  in  the  way  of  Reform,  and  they 
liked  not  that  one  wearing  the  priestly  garb,  and  belonging 
to  the  household  of  the  New  England  clergy,  should  gain 
power  in  a  sphere  which  they  would  arrogate  to  themselves. 
They  had  conceived  a  dislike  of  the  church  and  of  the 
clergy,  and  in  continuation  of  the  warfare  they  came  to 
dislike  and  denounce  about  all  the  institutions  cast  in  the 
New  England  religious  mould.  The  institution  of  the  Sab- 
bath, especially,  came  in  for  a  weighty  share  of  their  in- 
vective ;  and  one  of  their  soi-disant  engines  of  Reform  was 
an  "  Anti-Sabbath  Convention."  Against  the  influence  of 
these  men  Mr.  Cobb  labored  zealously,  for  he  loved  those 
institutions  with  his  whole  heart,  and  he  clung  to  them  as 


418  liEV.    SYLVAN  us     COJiD,    D.D. 

arks  of  safety  for  the  people  ;  and  in  performing  this  labor 
he  brought  upon  himself  the  denunciations  of  the  whole 
Anti-Church  and  Anti-Sabbath  force.  Mr.  Cobb  admitted 
the  errors  of  the  church,  and  of  the  clergy,  and  he  sought 
their  reform. 

Little  cause  had  any  man  for  accusing  Mr.  Cobb  of 
backwardness  in  advocating  all  proper  and  needed  reforms  ; 
and  so  far  as  his  "  Conservatism  "  went,  read  the  following 
from  his  pen,  and  judge.  Read  it,  and  see  how  truly  he 
spoke.  Read  it,  and  see  how,  at  this  day,  nearly  every 
true  heart  in  the  land  will  beat  responsive  to  its  senti- 
ments. This  is  not  a  single  article,  slipped  from  his  pen 
in  a  moment  of  spasmodic  feeling,  but  it  is  one  of  many  of 
the  same  kind.  In  fact,  his  columns,  from  week  to  week, 
bore  to  his  readers  just  such  stern  rebukes  of  wrong,  and 
earnest  appeals  for  right.  This  is  from  an  issue  of  the 
Freeman  of  March,  1850,  at  a  time  when  the  compromise 
measures  of  Mr.  Clay  upon  the  admission  of  California 
were  under  consideration,  and  when  Mr.  Webster  had  made 
that  remarkable  speech  which  so  astonished  his  friends  :  — 

"  POLITICAL  CROAKING.    THE  COMPROMISE. 

*'  We  do  protest  against  the  present  st3^1e  of  croaking,  by  the 
political  press  of  the  North,  in  relation  to  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union.  Almost  the  entire  political  press  indulges  in  a  tone  of 
alarm  in  respect  to  the  safety  of  the  Union,  and  with  Northern 
members  of  Congress,  suffers  itself  to  be  diverted  to  the  discus- 
sion of  ways  and  means  for  averting  such  a  catastrophe.  Tliis 
is  just  the  slavish  business  to  which  our  Southern  masters  wished 
to  put  us. 

"  It  is  mortifying  in  the  extreme  to  see  our  Representatives  in 
Congress  condescending  to  go  into  a  discussion  of  compromises 
and  surmises  for  saving  the  Union,  and  our  joolitical  journals  ap- 
plauding their  wisdom  and  jDatriotism  in  making  ''discretion 
their  better  valor.''''    What  are  they  sent  to  the  Capital  to  do?     It 


THE   MEMOIR.  419 

is  to  deliberate  and  legislate  for  the  right  and  the  good,  for  the 
present  and  permanent  interest  of  the  country.  If  they  have  a 
measure  which  is  wrong  and  mischievous,  or  which  infringes 
upon  the  constitutional  rights  of  sister  States,  let  there  be  no 
compromise,  but  an  utter  abandonment  of  their  project.  But  if 
they  have  a  measure  to  urge  which  is  constitutional  and  right, 
and  which  is  demanded  by  the  law  of  republican  liberty  and 
happiness,  let  them  not  consent  to  compromise  it  away,  but 
firmly,  calmly,  seasonably,  justly,  labor  for  its  consummation. 

"  But  Avhat  if  secession  is  threatened  by  a  sister  State  as  the 
price  of  such  a  measure  ?  What  ?  Pass  it  as  the  idle  winds, 
which  you  respect  not,  —  and  keep  about  your  business.  If  we 
cannot  have  our  holiest  sentiments  represented  in  our  national 
legislature,  and  we  may  not  perform  our  higliest  duties  there  as 
branches  of  the  Federal  Republic,  for  fear  of  the  bowie  knife, 
the  pistol,  or  the  secession  of  States,  then  the  sooner  the  great 
bubble  bursts,  the  better.  We  would  not  consent  to  occupy  so 
degraded  a  position,  as  to  sit  in  Congress  as  mere  dotards,  to  do 
as  any  spoiled  child  may  bid  us  do,  under  the  threat  of  dashing 
out  its  own  brains  if  Ave  refuse.  Depend  upon  it,  every  in- 
dulgence Avhich  Southern  members  extort  by  their  threats, 
endangers  the  Union  ;  for  it  fosters  in  them  the  spirit  of  tyranny, 
encourages  further  encroachments,  and  settles  a  precedent  on 
which  they  will  argue  a  prescriptive  claim  for  such  indulgence. 
In  this  Avay  the  Union  will  soon  be  made  too  shameful  a  thing 
to  bear  its  own  weight.  It  will  decompose  by  its  own  putres- 
cence. 

"What  is  the  question  now?  It  has  been  pleaded  by  the 
apologists  for  slavery  as  it  is,  that  they,  and  even  Southerners, 
generally,  are  as  much  opposed  to  slavery  iti  the  abstract  as  we 
are.  The  introduction  of  slavery,  they  say,  was  a  wicked  trans- 
action, and  if  it  were  not  in  our  country,  they  would  by  no 
means  have  it  entered.  But  as  it  is  in  the  Southern  States,  and 
tlie  present  generation  had  no  agency  in  introducing  it,  they  are 
not  to  be  blamed  for  its  existence. 

"  Well,  what  is  the  question  noAv?  It  is,  whether  we  as  a  re- 
public, we  of  the  Free  States  even,  Avill  blast  and  curse  the  now 
free  teratories  of  our  domain  with  the  terrible  sin  and  evil  of 
slavery :  Or,  which  is  the  same,  whether  we  will  open  the  doors 
of  those  territories  to  the  influx  of  this  evil.    Every  principle  of 


420  IlEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

religion  and  morality,  of  reason  and  nature,  of  republicanism 
and  common  sense,  of  social  and  political  economy,  forbids  it. 
How  many  thousands  in  the  slave-blighted  States  of  America 
have  cursed  the  memory  of-  King  George,  for  his  agency  in  the 
introduction  of  slaves  into  our  country.  Shall  we,  under  the 
light  and  the  profession  of  those  doctrines  of  human  rights  which 
King  George  had  never  studied,  give  the  same  occasion  for  pos- 
terity in  those  new  and  fertile  countries  to  curse  our  memory  ? 
No  hot-spur  gasconade  can  render  it  justifiable  in  us. 

"Suppose  you  are  in  a  productive  business  co-partnership. 
A  member  of  the  firm  comes  to  you  with  the  project  of  an  ex- 
tensive murder  and  robbery  for  the  increase  of  capital.  You 
refuse  to  participate  in  the  scheme,  or  to  be  accessory  to  it.  He 
then  attempts  to  procure  your  concurrence,  by  the  threat  that 
otherwise  he  will  withdraw  from  the  partnership !  Would  this 
threat  constitute  a  justification  of  your  confederacy  in  the 
robbery  ? 

"No,  let  not  our  Representatives  in  Congress,  nor  our  political 
journals,  set  up  their  praises  of  a  compromise  of  principle.  Be 
deliberate,  calm,  firm,  persevering  in  the  right.  And  if  any 
turn  their  gasconade  into  an  overt  act  of  insurrection,  let  the 
Executive  take  care  of  them. 

**We  speak  not  as  a  political  partisan;  nor  do  we  speak 
ought  that  bears  against  any  one  political  i^arty.  We  speak  as 
a  man,  an  American  citizen,  a  Christian,  a  father,  whose  pos- 
terity are  to  enjoy  or  suft'er,  according  to  the  preparations  we 
provide.  And  we  speak  unto  wise  men,  for  none  but  wise  men 
would  be  patrons  of  the  Christian  Freeman.  Judge  ye  what  we 
say." 

Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  by  you  who  are  just  entering 
upon  the  stage  of  active  and  independent  manhood,  that 
this  was  some  seventeen  3'ears  ago,  when  the  cry  went  up 
loud  and  bitter  against  '•'•  political  preacl ting,''  and  when  not 
another  paper  in  the  denomination  would  have  dared  to 
admit  such  a  thing  to  its  columns.  In  fact,  I  think  I  may 
safel}^  say  that  the  cr}^  against  ^^  carrying  politics  into  the 
pulpit "  was  at  its  height  during  the  excitement  consequent 


THE   MEMOIR.  421 

upon  those  compromises  which  tlirew  the  broad  domain 
acquired  from  Mexico  open  to  Slavery.  It  happened 
unfortunately  for  Massachusetts  that  her  darling  son  and 
political  idol,  Daniel  Webster,  had  committed  himself  to 
the  interests  of  the  Slave  Power,  and  when  the  people 
came  to  be  assured  that  the  telegraph  had  not  lied,  those 
who  felt  party  ties  to  be  stronger  than  the  dictates  of 
Right  and  Justice,  at  once  set  themselves  about  devising 
ways  and  means  to  conceal  their  own  chagrin,  and  to  keep 
from  the  masses  a  full  knowledge  of  the  calamity  that  had 
befallen  the  genius  of  Liberty  in  New  England.  Of  course 
one  of  the  things  necessary  to  be  done  to  this  end  was  to 
close  the  lips  of  the  clergy  ;  and  to  accomplish  this  they 
resorted  to  all  means  that  lay  within  their  power.  With 
some  they  succeeded  ;  but  not  with  all.  Especially  among 
the  Liberal  Christians  there  had  come  up  a  power  that  was 
not  to  be  crushed  so  easily ;  and  they  found  many  minis- 
ters who  were  bold  and  fearless  in  speaking  the  truth  as 
they  understood  it ;  and  among  this  number  was  Mr.  Cobb. 
Not  only  for  himself  did  he  cr}^  out  against  the  monstrous 
wrong  ;  but  he  strove  to  speak  for  the  denomination.  B}^ 
every  means  within  his  reach  did  he  seek  to  educate  his 
people  up  to  the  standard  of  direct  and  open  opposition  to 
the  Slave  Power  ;  and  wiien  the  politicians  flung  their  slurs 
and  accusations  against  him  he  was  ready  with  his  answer. 
During  the  year  1846  Rev.  L.  S.  Everett  had  editorial 
charge  of  a  Universalist  paper  published  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
entitled  the  "  Western  Evangelist, ^^  and  in  his  issue  of  Jul3^ 
11th  he  took  occasion  to  come  down  with  gi'eat  severity 
upon  Mr.  Cobb.  He  commenced  his  article  by  alluding  to 
the  •'  fearful  spread  of  Infidelity "  brought  about  by  the 
seductive  teachings  of  Theodore  Parker ;  and  then  he  goes 
on  to  claim  that  things  have  come  out  "just  as  he  ex- 
36 


422  nEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

pccted."  He  had  "  warned  Br.  Cobb  "  of  the  result  years 
before.  If  Br.  Cobb  had  turned  his  attention  to  preaching 
a  "  Risen  Saviour"  instead  of  preaching  "Abolitionism," 
all  this  might  not  have  occurred.  lie  did  not  expect  that 
his  advice  would  be  heeded ;  but,  for  all  that,  he  would 
once  more  advise  Br.  Cobb  to  let  those  "  exciting  topics  " 
alone  for  the  future. 

In  the  same  number  of  the  Christian  Freeman  which 
contains  the  editor's  notice  of  this  article  (the  issue  of 
July  31,)  appears  a  commendatory  epistle  from  Dr.  Allen, 
of  Deckertown,  N.  J.,  from  which  I  make  the  following 
extract.  The  letter  commences  by  speaking  of  the  Pres- 
byterian character  of  the  neighborhood  in  w  hich  the  writer 
resides,  and  of  the  refreshing  influence  of  the  Freeman's 
religious  articles,  not  only  upon  himself,  but  also  upon 
many  of  his  friends  ;  and  thus  he  concludes  :  — 

"  But  in  reference  to  that  other  mighty  reform  —  the  abolition 
of  Slavery  —  the  Christian  Freeman  is  doing  a  noble  work,  both 
for  the  honor  of  Universalism  and  the  cause  of  Philanthropy. 
And  here  I  w^ould  ask,  if  we  do  not,  in  virtue  of  our  professions, 
ow^e  it  to  the  world  to  take  high  ground  here  ?  By  what  other 
people  can  the  great  doctrine  of  human  brotherhood  be  pro- 
claimed if  not  by  us  ?  Can  we  excuse  ourselves  at  tliis  day  of 
light,  for  confining  our  labors  wholly  to  the  controverted  points 
of  sectarian  theology,  without  following  them  out  to  their  legit- 
imate bearings  on  the  great  reforms  of  the  age,  and  enforcing 
their  practical  application  there  ?  To  declare  the  equality  of 
man  in  the  sight  of  God,  the  universal  paternity  of  the  Father, 
the  common  brotherhood  and  common  destiny  of  the  race,  these 
are  the  grand  leading-points  of  our  religion,  and  can  these  doc- 
trines be  held  by  those  who  will  not  '  protest '  against  human 
slavery?  The  very  idea  involves  a  solecism  that  shocks  the 
sense.  And  yet  I  grieve  to  acknowdedge  that  our  friends  of 
New  York  have  never  dropt  a  word  in  the  Uiiion,  by  which  w^e 
could  learn  that  over  three  hundred  of  our  clergymen  had  pub- 
lished a  solemn  protest  aganist  this  mammoth  sin.    Yet  so  it  is. 


THE  MEMOIR,  423 

No  allusion  whatever  to  the  circumstance  has,  to  my  knowl- 
edge, ever  j'et  appeared  in  its  columns.  I  know  not  their  mo- 
tives. But  the  fact  alone,  I  need  not  say,  detracts  largely,  in 
my  estimation,  from  the  value  of  their  otherwise  acceptable  and 
very  useful  labors.  Brethren  of  New  York !  your  course  is 
noticed.  Is  Universalism  too  good  to  be  put  in  practice,  or  too 
evil  ?  Can  man  hold  his  brother  in  chains,  and  Universalism 
look  on  and  smile  ?  The  world  beholds  the  incongruity  of  this. 
And  let  me  say,  the  world  is  rising  up  in  judgment  against  all 
who  are  guilty  of  it. 

"  Br.  Cobb,  go  on  !  The  prayers  of  the  good  are  with  you. 
A  glorious  triumph  awaits  us. 

*'  Yours  veiy  truly, 

**C.  Allen,  M.D." 

If  Mr.  Cobb's  lucubrations  had  been  refreshing  to  the 
doctor,  he  might  have  rested  under  the  assurance  that  his 
friendly  epistle  was  equally  refreshing  to  the  toil-worn  and 
harassed  editor. 

The  man  who  would  be  a  safe  leader  in  any  enterprise 
must  be  one  who  is  willing  to  give  a  projected  movement 
fair  examination  in  all  its  bearings  ;  and  he  w^ho  would  be 
a  successful  leader  in  Reform  must  have  enough  of  con- 
servatism in  his  composition  to  admit  of  a  just  and  dis- 
criminating consideration  of  those  points  which  involve 
human  expediency ;  because  even  in  pursuing  the  path  of 
absolute  right  a  proper  degree  of  caution  is  never  out  of 
place.  The  true  surgeon  will  be  very  careful  about  per- 
forming a  capital  operation  upon  his  patient  which  his 
judgment  tells  him  may  prove  fatal.  In  certain  diseases 
very  powerful  medicines  are  needed  ;  but  your  honest  and 
trustworthy  phj^sician  will,  in  regulating  the  times  and  the 
quantities  of  the  doses  thereof,  be  governed  as  much,  and 
perhaps  more,  by  a  consideration  of  the  possible  dangers 
to  the  general  system  of  the  medicine,  than  by  a  simple 
consideration  of  the  curative  effect  desired.     And  so  in  the 


424  BEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

polity  of  Reform,  the  true  and  trustworthy  leader  will 
never  forget  the  great  body  of  the  country,  and  the  dan- 
gers to  which  its  system  is  liable  ;  and  in  the  administering 
of  his  medicine  he  will  look  to  it  that  he  does  not  give 
doses  which  will  create  greater  evils  than  those  he  seeks  to 
eradicate. 

Mr.  Cobb  had,  in  our  humble  estimation,  just  enough  of 
this  spirit  of  conservatism  to  qualif}^  him  in  an  eminent 
degree  for  the  position  he  occupied  —  a  Pioneer  of  Reform 
in  the  Universalist  Denomination.  Upon  the  occasion  of 
the  "  John  Brown  Tragedy  "  he  improved  the  opportunity 
to  read  to  the  country  a  valuable  lecture  upon  the  subject 
of  the  Nation's  Duties  and  Responsibilities.  He  did  not 
propose  to  make  a  saint  of  John  Brown ;  but  he  showed 
how,  by  a  regular  process  of  ratiocination,  that  man  had 
come  to  regard  the  course  he  pursued  as  a  sacred  duty,  due 
alike  to  his  God  and  to  his  fellow-men.  And  in  closing  a 
lengthy  article  Mr.  Cobb  tells  to  the  country  just  what 
they  must  expect  if  this  abomination  of  Slavery  is  further 
upheld  and  fostered ;  and  in  finishing  his  prophetic  picture 
he  quotes  from  the  28th  chapter  of  Isaiah  verses  14-19. 
He  reads  in  this  John  Brown  Tragedy  the  signs  of  coming 
destruction.  Either  Slavery  must  be  destroyed,  or  our 
Nation  must  follow  other  nations  that  have  persisted  in  up- 
holding wrongs  that  were  alike  opposed  to  the  laws  of  God 
and  to  the  best  interests  of  man. 

The  words  of  men,  spoken  with  seeming  inspiration,  when 
the  heart  was  warm  for  humanity,  and  the  vision  of  reason 
had  grasped,  as  if  by  sight,  the  consequences  of  persistence 
in  great  wrongs,  have  been  handed  down  as  prophecies ; 
and  why  may  we  not  say  that  Mr.  Cobb  spoke  with  pro- 
phetic power  and  vision  when  he  pictured  the  evils  that 
were  to  come  upon  our  country  from  the  nurture  and  spread 


THE   MEMOIR.  425 

of  Slavery  ?  I  have,  at  this  writing,  a  large  number  of  ex-  * 
tracts  from  his  written  articles  and  speeches,  all  foretelling 
what  would  surely  come  to  pass  of  calamity  and  destruc- 
tion to  the  country  if  the  giant  wrong  of  Slaver}^  were  not 
put  back,  and  its  insolent  demands  spurned  by  an  enlight- 
ened people  ;  but  I  need  not  give  them  place  here.  I  have 
enougli  of  extractive  matter  without  them ;  but  I  may  be 
allowed  to  say  that  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  in  the 
event  of  a  continuance  of  the  abominations  of  the  Jewish 
people,  was  not  more  vigorously  and  startlingly  portra^^ed 
than  was  that  calamity  which  has  already  befallen  this 
country  prophetically  portrayed  by  Mr.  Cobb  ! 

There  is  something  instructive,  and  at  the  same  time 
amusingly  significant,  in  the  course  pursued  by  some  of 
our  ministering  brethren  when  they  found  that  the  abomi- 
nation of  Slavery  was  really  and  truly  swallowing  up  the 
\QYy  liberties  of  the  American  people.  In  other  times  i\\Qj 
had  been  fearful  of  the  result  of  admitting  discussion  upon 
the  subject  into  the  denomination  ;  but  when  there  came  an 
act  which  stirred  their  souls  so  deeply  that  they  could  bear 
it  no  longer,  then  they  felt  that  their  duties  as  ministers  of 
the  Gospel  required  them  to  speak  out.  One  noble-hearted 
father  in  the  denomination,  whose  caution  had  led  him  to 
be  wary  of  meddling  with  "  vexing  questions,"  when  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  was  passed,  concluded  he  had  borne 
enough ;  and  straightway  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  editor  of 
the  Christian  Freeman  thanking  him  for  his  course  in  rela- 
tion to  that  abominable  enactment ;  and  then  he  goes  on 
to  sa}',  — 

"I  have  always  been  conservative  and  moderate  on  all  agita- 
tions concerning  slavery.     I  am  so  now.     But,  the  law  in  ques- 
tion, is  so  manifestly  unconstitutional  an^l  anti-Christian,  that  lean 
obey  it  only,  in  suffering  its  unjust  fines  and  penalties.    Others 
36* 


426  JiEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,   IJ.D. 

may  do  as  thoy  think  right.  For  one,  I  have  examined  the  whole 
subject,  and  am  prepared  to  defend  the  ground  I  take.  If  I  can- 
not do  it,  I  will,  for  the  first  time,  acknowledge  myself  beaten. 
Still,  I  cling  to  the  U?iion  of  States,  so  long  as  they  are  States ; 
whilst  I  deny  the  unauthorized  usurpation  of  Congress,  as  ex- 
hibited in  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  This  is  not  a  j^artij  question  ; 
if  it  were,  I  would  not,  in  my  ministerial  capacity,  meddle  with 
it.  It  is  a  question  of  civil  rights,  of  morals,  of  religion,  in  which 
every  citizen  has  an  interest,  and  a  right  to  speak  freely." 

Among  the  extracts  at  my  elbow  I  find  one  clipped  from 
the  editorial  page  of  the  Freeman,  headed  —  "going  — 
GOING  —  GONE  !  "  and  it  gives  an  account  of  the  decease  of 
a  so-called  Universalist  paper,  ycleped  "jTAe  Gospel  Mes- 
senger,'" published  in  the  State  of  Alabama.  I  also  find 
numerous  articles  of  discussion  between  the  editors  of  the 
Freeman  and  of  the  Southern  paper  upon  the  subject  of 
Slavery  ;  but  we  may  sum  up  the  whole  thing  in  a  very 
few  words.  The  Southern  editor  had  claimed  that  the 
Universalists,  as  a  denomination,  should  let  the  subject  of 
Slavery  alone,  so  that  the  doctrine  might  be  promulgated  in 
the  Southern  States,  to  which,  in  considering  the  event  of 
the  demise  of  the  Alabama  paper,  Mr.  Cobb  replies  :  — 

**  Brethren,  — You  are  laboring  to  uphold  and  justify  Slavery, 
that  you  may  be  permitted  to  labor  for  the  ui^building  of  Univer- 
salism  in  the  South.  But  do  you  not  see  that  the  very  institution 
which  you  are  laboring  to  sustain,  is  itself  destroying  Univer- 
salism  as  fast  as  you  can  build  it?  Father  Winchester  labored 
to  promulgate  our  religion  in  the  South  as  early  as  Murray  com- 
menced his  labors  in  the  North.  Efforts  of  this  sort  have  been 
continued,  as  far  as  opportunities  offered,  ever  since.  And  how 
does  the  matter  stand  ?  Why,  in  the  Free  States  there  are  about 
twenty  Universalist  publications,  weekly  and  monthly,  in  suc- 
cessful operation,  and  most  of  them  are  well  sustained.  In  the 
South,  one  paper  alone  cannot  find  support !  And  our  cause  in  its 
other  aspects,  except  in  a  few  places  near  the  border  of  freedom, 
will  well  nigh  compare  with  the  case  of  the  paper." 


THE  3IEM0IR.  427 

One  of  the  grandest  efforts  of  Mr.  Cobb  at  speech-making 
was  his  response  to  a  sentiment  given  on  the  occasion  of 
the  Universalist  Reform  Festival  in  1855.  The  sentiment 
was,  "Our  Denomination  —  Builders  upon  Foundation'' 
The  speech  was  literally  a  summing  up  of  the  results  of  his 
labors  and  observations  during  his  long  term  of  service  as 
a  worker  in  the  field  of  Reform  ;  and  certainly  no  laborer 
of  them  all  was  better  qualified  to  speak  upon  that  subject 
with  understanding  than  was  he.  He  not  only  comprehend- 
ed the  glorious  beauties  of  our  denominational  fabric,  with 
its  characteristics  and  adornments  of  all  the  graces  and  vir- 
tues and  beatitudes  of  Christianity,  but  he  fully  understood 
what  was  necessary  to  support  the  superstructure.  Wisdom 
might  contrive,  and  Beauty  might  adorn,  until  a  fabric  had 
been  reared  that  should  command  the  admiration  of  the 
world,  but  what  could  it  avail  if  there  were  not  Strength  to 
support.  If  the  Foundation  were  faulty  we  could  have  lit- 
tle reason  to  congratulate  ourselves  upon  the  architectural 
glories  of  the  superstructure.  And  then  he  went  on  to  ex- 
amine the  various  methods  of  those  who  have  come  forward 
with  plans  for  the  remodelling  of  our  great  social,  moral, 
and  religious  fabric ;  and  in  the  end  he  showed  that  only 
the  true  Christian,  building  upon  the  Foundation  of  the 
Gospel  in  its  purity,  could  hope  to  be  a  successful  work- 
man. It  was  a  noble  effort,  and  those  who  heard  it  will 
never  forget  its  power  and  pathos.  He  spoke  as  one  having 
authority,  by  reason  of  long  and  faithful  service  ;  and  he 
spoke  to  the  point  and  to  the  purpose. 

The  lips  that  uttered  these  words  are  now  hushed  in  the 
sleep  of  death,  and  the  pen  that  wrote  so  much  for  human- 
ity has  dropped  from  the  fingers  that  may  no  more  wield  it. 
But  for  the  man  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  dying.  He 
has  performed  his  labors  in  this  lower  world ;  he  has  ex- 
pended the  talents  which  were  placed  in  his  keeping ;  and 


428  EEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.J). 

the  Master  has  called  hhn  home.  In  spirit  he  is  with  us 
now  ;  and  for  ages  j^et  to  come,  when  the  brethren  of  the 
household  of  our  glorious  faith  meet  in  social  council,  there 
shall  be  with  them  an  operative  influence  of  good,  coming 
down  through  the  lapse  of  time,  from  the  lips  and  the  pen 
of  him  who  "tried  to  be  a  faithful  servant  of  the 
Lord." 

So  far  as  the  distinctive  doctrines  of  Universalism  are 
concerned  Mr.  Cobb  may  claim  no  higher  place  than  a  faith- 
ful "  Member  of  the  Old  Guard  ;  "  but  when  we  judge  of 
Universalism  as  one  of  the  great  social  and  moral  powers 
of  Progress  and  Reform  —  when  we  come  to  view  it  as  a 
Palladium  of  Human  Libert}^  set  up  in  the  midst  of  the 
people  —  then  I  claim  for  Sylvanus  Cobb  that  he  w^as  a 
Leader  of  even  the  "  Old  Guard "  itself.  Does  not  the 
record  bear  me  out?  Where  were  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
"  Old  Guard"  of  the  denomination  when  he  threw  his  ban- 
ner of  Reform  to  the  breeze  ?  —  and  where  are  they  to-day  ? 
What,  in  that  early  daj- ,  was  the  spirit  of  the  Universalist 
press  and  pulpit  touching  those  vital  questions  of  a  Nation's 
■weal,  to  the  solution  of  which  he  gave  the  best  energies  of 
his  life  ?  —  and  w^hat  was  that  spirit  when  his  life-labor  was 
accomplished  ?  I  claim  not  that  he  did  it  all.  —  God  for- 
bid !  But  I  claim  that  he  did  much  —  that  he  did  enough 
to  place  his  name  high  upon  the  roll  of  honor  and  of  fame. 
Most  assuredly  did  he  accomplish  the  possibility  of  life 
enjoined  by  the  sweet  Bard  of  Erin  :  — 

"  Who,  that  surveys  this  span  of  earth  we  press. 
This  speck  of  life  in  time's  great  wilderness, 
This  narrow  isthmus  'twixt  two  boundless  seas, 
The  past,  the  future,  two  eternities!  — 
Would  sully  the  bright  spot,  or  leave  it  bare, 
"When  he  might  build  him  a  proud  Temple  there,  — 
A  Name  —  that  long  shall  hallow  all  its  space, 
And  be  each  purer  soul's  high  resting-place! " 


TRE  MEMOIR,  429 


CHAPTER  XII. 

The  East  Boston  Home,  —  Enlargement  of  his  Paper, 
—  Value  of  Old  Bills,  —  The  Time  for  a  Silver 
Wedding,  — Looking  back  from  the  end  of  his  First 
Half   Century,  —  Ideas   of   Capital  Punishment,  — 

JOURNEYINGS   AND   JoTTINGS,  —  An   AnECDOTAL   ScRAP. 

We  now  come  back  to  something  like  order  in  dates,  and 
proceed  with  the  more  prominent  and  interesting  events  in 
the  life  of  Mr.  Cobb.  In  the  first  place  let  it  be  understood 
that  he  had  found  an  abiding-place  upon  the  headland  of 
Noddle's  Island  that  suited  him.  The  "  Castle  of  Peace" 
was  to  him  a  pleasant  home,  and  while  he  lived  he  saw  not 
another  spot  for  which  he  would  exchange  the  site  upon 
which  his  mansion  stood.  He  thus  speaks  after  having 
resided  there  nearly  five  years  :  — 

**  The  weather  has  been  excessively  hot  in  this' region  for  the 
past  week.  In  the  heart  of  the  city  it  has  been  impossible  to 
*  keep  cool.''  Not  only  has  the  sun  scorched  by  day,  but  the  peo- 
ple complain  that  they  have  not  been  able  to  get  refreshing  sleep 
by  night,  by  reason  of  the  heated  state  of  the  sluggish  air. 

"  But  we  sufter  none  of  this  debilitating  night  heat  in  our 
domicil  at  East  Boston.  Situated  on  the  summit  of  Belmont,  in 
the  first  section,  back  of  the  site  of  old  Fort  Strong,  we  have  the 
pure  breezes  from  the  Harbor,  freighted  with  the  perfume  of  the 
white  clover  of  the  Commons,  and  of  the  surrounding  gardens. 
We  sit  by  our  window  and  snufi"  pleasure  and  health,  and  sleep 
with  open  windows,  in  an  influx  of  air  as  pure  as  the  breath  of 
Aurora.  Awaking  from  sleep  in  such  an  atmosphere  and  a  peace- 


430  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,   D.D. 

fill  conscience,  with  renewed  vigor  we  greet  tlie  rosy  morning, 
and  enter  upon  the  duties  and  enjoyments  of  the  day. 

"Now  there  is  room  for  a  few  more  families  in  this  immediate 
neighborhood.  There  are  a  few  beautiful  houses  in  the  market, 
and  unoccupied  lots  for  sale  ;  and  there  are  families  living  at  a 
poor  d^ing  rate,  in  crowded  and  stifled  parts  of  the  city,  who  are 
able  to  provide  a  residence  in  this  spot  of  spots.  Don't  tell  us  of 
your  Melroses  and  your  Somervilles.  They  are  very  pleasant,  but 
mere  moon-shine  compared  with  the  vicinity  of  Belmont  Square. 
And  then  you  have  here  the  combined  advantages  of  city  and 
country  in  full.  Why,  what  if  the  cars  start  while  you  are  speak- 
ing the  concluding  word  of  kindness  to  your  friend,  or  rounding 
off  the  last  end  of  3-our  bargain  ?  Five  minutes'  walk  will  carry 
you  from  the  Post  Office  to  the  Ferry  ;  five  minutes  more,  through 
the  refreshing  breezes  of  the  Harbor,  will  land  you  on  the  East 
Boston  shore,  and  four  or  five  minutes  more  will  welcome  you 
at  your  door  on  Belmont  Square.     Come  and  see." 

There  maybe  some  "beautiful  houses  in  the  market" 
still;  but  as  for  those  "unoccupied  lots,"  the}^  have  all 
been  taken  up,  for  the  health-loving  people  who  had  the 
means  were  not  long  in  making  the  discovery  that  the  vicin- 
ity of  Belmont  Square  was  the  place  for  a  comfortable 
home. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  Tenth  volume  of  the  Free- 
man, in  May,  1848,  Mr.  Cobb  enlarged  his  paper  far  be3^ond 
the  size  and  capacity  of  any  other  Universalist  weekly  ;  and 
he  also  procured  new  type,  and  a  new  dress  throughout. 
The  outlay  of  money  thus  called  for  was  large,  but  the  pub- 
lisher w^as  determined  that  his  patrons  should  have  as  good 
a  paper  from  his  office  for  their  money  as  could  have  been 
procured  elsewhere  ;  and  if  he  could,  by  any  means  within 
his  power,  present  them  with  a  better,  he  meant  to  do  it. 
He  had  come  now  to  knovf  what  w^as  required  to  make  a 
first-class,  readable  paper ;  and  as  he  had  taken  the  lead  in 
other  matters  having  to  do  with  the  inner  life  of  the  denom- 


THE   MEMOIR.  431 

ination,  so  now  he  took  the  lead  in  those  matters  which 
appealed  to  the  taste  for  the  beautiful  and  entertaining  in 
outward  things. 

It  was  somewhere  about  this  time  that  Mr.  Cobb's  un- 
derstanding was  first  fairly  opened  to  a  just  appreciation 
of  the  value  of  the  claims  which  had  been  for  nine  j^ears 
accumulating  against  delinquent  subscribers.  There  Avere 
bills  to  the  amount  of  thousands  of  dollars  due  him,  but 
they  were  most  of  them  against  people  whom  he  could  not 
conveniently  reach.  Awa}^  up  in  the  north-east  corner  of 
Maine  there  might  have  been  forty  or  fifty  subscribers, 
scattered  over  an  area  of  a  thousand  square  miles,  owing 
him,  upon  an  average,  four  dollars  each  —  some  perhaps 
owed  two,  while  others  may  have  owed  from  ten  to  fifteen 
dollars.  In  the  Western  part  of  the  State  there  might  have 
been  two  or  three  hundred  of  these  delinquents,  scattered 
over  a  territory  three  or  four  times  as  large  as  the  former. 
In  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont  it  was  the  same ;  and  so 
throuojhout  New  En2:land  and  New  York.  Small  sums  in 
a  town,  all  the  way  from  Quoddy  Head  to  Lake  Erie.  To 
send  a  collector  over  this  territor}^  was  impossible,  for  Mr. 
Cobb  had  not  the  money  with  which  to  pay  the  expenses  of 
such  an  agent ;  and  yet  there  were  the  bills  upon  his  books, 
continually  staring  him  in  the  face,  and  he  sorely  needed 
the  money. 

At  length  a  gentleman,  by  the  name  of  Pease,  from  Hal- 
lowell,  I  think,  made  his  appearance  in  the  Freeman  office, 
and  ofi'ered  to  purchase  these  bills.  He  had  made  that  his 
business,  and  had  already  purchased  the  outstanding  bills 
of  a  great  many  New  England  papers,  and  intended  to 
purchase  all  that  he  could.  He  could  not  have  afforded  to 
go  down  into  Penobscot  County  with  only  the  Christian 
Freeman  bills  to  collect ;  but  when  he  came  to  have  in  his 


432  EEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

possession  the  bills  of  a  hundred  other  papers,  the  case  was 
different.  Having  the  whole  business  in  his  own  hands  he 
could  atford  to  hire  agents,  and  set  them  at  the  work.  He 
did  no  collecting  on  commission.  He  bought  the  bills  out- 
right—  good,  bad,  and  indifferent.  If  he  bought  the  ac- 
count of  one  subscriber  residing  in  Nopaton,  he  wanted  the 
outstanding  bills  of  all  the  others  residing  there.  Mr.  Cobb 
examined  Mr.  Pease's  credentials,  and  having  received  a 
solemn  guarantee  that  no  honorable  subscriber  whose  pov- 
erty prevented  his  pa3dng  should  be  hard  pressed,  he  con- 
sented to  sell.  But,  mercy !  When  he  came  to  see  the 
figures  of  the  return  he  was  to  receive  for  his  bills,  how  his 
ardor  was  dampened  !  At  first  he  could  not  consent  to  it, 
and  he  took  a  night  to  sleep  upon  it.  For  some  of  those 
accounts  he  was  to  receive  thirty-three  cents  upon  a  dollar, 

—  for  some  twenty  cents,  —  for  some  even  less  than  that ; 
while  for  those  which  might  be  deemed  current  bills  —  bills 
against  men  whose  record  showed  that  they  were  good  pay- 
ing subscribers  —  he  got  a  fair  price  —  a  price  but  little 
less  than  would  be  left  after  deducting  a  fair  percentage  for 
collecting.  By  and  by  Mr.  Cobb  asks  himself,  —  "What 
are  these  bills  worth  to  me  ?  "  and  the  answer  comes  back, 

—  "  Some  of  them  — man}"  of  them —  are  worth  nothing  !  " 
And  he  decided  to  sell.  It  was  a  great  sacrifice  when  con- 
sidered in  the  light  of  what  he  ought  to  have  received  from 
those  subscribers  ;  but  when  he  reflected  upon  what  the 
bills  were  worth  to  a  man  who  had  got  to  assume  the  re- 
sponsibility of  collecting  them,  he  felt  quite  satisfied  ;  and, 
on  the  whole,  the  transaction  was  a  favorable  one  for  him. 
It  not  only  gave  him  a  little  ready  money  with  which  to 
wipe  off  obligations  that  were  outstanding  against  him ; 
but  it  squared  his  books,  and  banished  from  his  sight  a 


THE   MEMOIR.  433 

thousand-and-one  old  accounts  that  had  long  been  like  so 
many  eye-sores  to  him. 

Thus,  in  a  measure,  relieved  for  a  time  from  the  harassing 
care  of  running  out  every  week  to  collect  money  for  cur- 
rent expenses,  Mr.  Cobb  devoted  more  of  his  time  to  the 
care  of  the  editorial  department  of  the  paper  which  he 
had  enlarged  and  beautified.  In  his  address  to  his  pat- 
rons on  the  occasion  he  saj^s,  — 

"The  general  character  of  the  Freeman  will  be  the  same 
which  has  gained  it  so  extensive  approbation.  It  will  be  deci- 
sive without  dogmatism, — grave  without  austerity,  —  cheerful 
without  levity,  —  philanthropic  without  pusilanimity,  —  and 
faithful  without  uukindness.  While  it  discards  Beelzebub,  it 
will  worship  Jehovah.  While  it  renounces  superstition,  it  will 
reverence  rehgion.  While  it  respects  man's  judgment  of  truth, 
it  will  thank  God  for  his  revelation  of  it.  While  it  shouts  for 
liberty,  it  will  plead  for  order.  While  it  labors  manfully  and 
perseveringly  to  correct  abuses  and  exterminate  oppression  and 
wrong,  it  will  work  assiduously  to  build  and  prosper  those  civil, 
moral,  and  religious  institutions,  which  shall  establish  and  per- 
petuate the  right." 

There  was  one  event  which  I  neglected  to  introduce  in 
its  proper  place  in  order  of  time,  but  it  will  answer  just  as 
well  to  bring  it  in  here.  I  allude  to  the  celebration  of  the 
twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  Mr.  Cobb's  marriage,  which 
took  place  on  the  evening  of  September  10th,  1847.  There 
was  no  "  Silver  Wedding"  on  the  occasion,  as  that  sort  of 
thing  had  not  then  been  generally  introduced ;  but  there 
was  a  happy  gathering,  and  a  joyous  celebration  ;  and  the 
bride  and  groom  were  as  gay  and  jubilant,  and  as  full  of 
hope  and  promise,  as  they  had  been  just  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury before,  when  they  first  joined  hands  for  the  life  that 
was  to  produce  so  much  of  the  healthful  influence  through 
which  society  is  purified  and  adorned. 
37 


434  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,   D.D. 

The  following  extracts  from  a  letter  written  by  the  happy- 
bride  to  her  parents  will  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  the 
occasion :  — 

**  My  dear  Parents,  — I  know  you  have  thought  of  us  more 
than  once  to-day,  and  more  than  once  have  we  thought  and 
spoken  of  you,  and  our  dear  former  home.  Many  years  have 
elapsed  since  we  left  the  paternal  roof,  but  we  shall  never  forget 
the  place,  and  our  enjoyments  there.  You  know,  dear  mother, 
our  sentiment  on  the  subject  of  progression,  and  so  we  are  con- 
tented with  the  past,  and  willing  to  go  on  for  the  future. 

"We  have  this  evening  enjoyed  a  happy  family  meeting 
indeed.  With  nine  children,  all  well  and  happy,  and  all  re- 
maining under  the  same  roof,  we  met  to  celebrate  the  twenty- 
fifth  anniversary  of  our  marriage.  And  if  ever  hearts  went  up 
in  unison  to  the  throne  of  grace,  hearts  overflowing  with  grati- 
tude to  the  Supreme  Governor  of  the  universe,  for  his  countless 
mercies,  I  believe  it  was  at  this  time.  And  when  we  heard  the 
words  uttered  — '  We  thank  thee,  O  Lord,  that  through  a  long 
series  of  years,  sickness  hath  seldom  entered  our  dwelling,  and 
death  never,''  our  every  soul  seemed  to  unite  in  the  same  silent 
response  of  gratitude  and  love.  And  so  it  is.  For  twenty-five 
years  scarcely  a  cloud  has  come  over  us ;  none  but  what  we 
have  seen  cleared  away  to  leave  a  brighter  sky.  We  can  say 
with  the  royal  poet,  '  The  Lord  is  great,  and  greatly  to  be 
praised.' 

*'  We  enriched  our  meeting  by  singing  Hymn  517th,  Streeter's 
Collection,  in  the  tune  of  '  Peterboro' ' :  — 

"  *  On  thee,  each  morning,  0  my  God, 
My  waking  thoughts  attend, 
In  whom  are  founded  all  my  hopes, 

In  whom  my  wishes  end.' 
*  n  *  *■  *■  * 

"And  also  the  520th  Hymn,  same  Collection,  in  old  'He- 
bron ' :  — 

"  '  Father  of  men,  thy  care  we  bless, 

Which  crowns  our  families  with  peace; 
From  thee  they  sprung,  and  by  thy  hand 
Their  root  and  branches  are  sustained.' 


THE   MEMOIR.  435 

*•  Both  these  tunes  are  favorites  of  our  clear  parents,  and  glad 
should  we  have  been  to  have  enjoyed  your  musical  talents  with 
us.  After  uniting  in  fervent  prayer  to  God,  we  partook  of  some 
of  the  bounties  of  his  munificent  providence,  and  retired,  each 
with  the  desire  of  the  others'  future  prosperity  and  happiness. 
*' Afi'ectionately,  your  daughter, 

*'E.  H.  Cobb." 

I  may  say  in  this  place  that  as  the  years  sped  on, 
and  the  married  life  of  the  happy  pair  stretched  towards 
half  a  century,  the  remaining  children  promised  themselves 
much  pleasure  and  satisfaction  in  celebrating  the  "  Golden 
Wedding  "  with  ceremonies  and  material  accompaniments 
suited  to  the  occasion  ;  but  the  pleasure  may  not  be  ours. 
The  next  meeting  of  that  family  circle,  when  heart  shall 
beat  with  heart  in  responsive  sentiments  of  love  and  joy, 
must  be  in  the  home  where  the  griefs  of  separation  are 
known  no  more  forever ! 

On  the  19th  day  of  July,  1848,  Mr.  Cobb  was  fifty  years 
of  age,  and  on  that  occasion  he  jotted  down  the  following 
thoughts  and  reminiscences  which  the  reader  will  find  of 
more  than  passing  interest :  — 

"  This  day,  July  17th,  comijletes  a  half  century  of  my  life.  It 
is  my  both  hii^hday*  How  wonderful  is  human  life.  I  used  to 
look  up  to  men  fifty  j^ears  of  age  as  old  men.  Yet  I  cannot 
think  that  I  am  old.  I  do  not  feel  old,  tho'  I  have  labored  hard. 
Time  indeed  flies  swiftly ;  yet  I  cannot  say  so  emphatically  as 
some  say,  of  the  portion  of  my  life  that  is  passed,  that  it  seems 
short,  or  like  a  dream.  In  looking  back  through  the  vista  of 
years,  I  see  a  somewhat  long  avenue,  and  many  prominent 
objects  by  the  way.  My  reminiscences  of  the  past  are  numerous, 
and  interesting.  It  is  a  little  more  than  twenty-eight  years  since 
I  commenced  the  work  of  the  public  ministiy.     Of  this  time  one 

*  Of  course  he  means  the  50th  anniversarTj  of  his  birthday;  because,  counting 
the  day  of  birth  Vae  first  birthday,  then  the  years  of  life  are  marked  by  the  anni- 
versaries thereof.  — Memoirist. 


436  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

year  was  spent  in  furtlier  preparatory  studies,  and  itinerating ; 
seven  years  in  Waterville,  Me.,  one  half  the  time  preaching  in 
that  place,  and  the  other  half  over  a  large  portion  of  the  State  ; 
ten  j^ears  in  Maiden  ;  three  years  in  Walthalii ;  and  seven  years 
I  have  resided  in  East  Boston.  I  have  preached  3805  sermons, 
of  which  I  have  memoranda.  Three  years  I  was  lecturing 
Agent  of  the  Middlesex  County  Temperance  Society,  lecturing 
on  an  average  three  times  a  week,  making  468  lectures,  averag- 
ing more  than  an  hour  each  in  length.  Before  and  since  that 
agency  I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  lecturing  often  on  moral  sub- 
jects, performing  a  large  amount  of  labor  of  which  I  have  not 
a  complete  record.  It  would,  however,  be  within  bounds,  for 
Anti-Slavery,  Temperance  and  Scientific  lectures,  to  add  another 
468,  making  in  all,  sermons  and  lectures,  4741.  Besides  all  this, 
I  have,  for  the  last  nine  years  and  three  months,  edited  the 
Christian  Freeman,  and  also  performed  a  large  portion  of  the 
out-door  agency  connected  with  it.  The  necessity  of  this  has 
resulted  from  the  fact,  that  other  denominational  papers  were  in 
the  field  before  mine,  and  I  could  not  ask  my  ministering  breth- 
ren to  give  this  their  special  attention,  as  it  would  seem  to  be 
asking  them  to  show  partiality  between  brethren  towards  whom 
they  would  preserve  equal  relations  of  friendship.  Furthermore, 
there  are  so  many  hundreds  of  papers  urged  on  the  people,  that 
one  can  hardl}^  make  it  profitable  to  go  out  on  hire  as  a  travelling 
agent  for  a  denominational  paper.  Indeed  there  are  but  few 
persons  who  are  fit  for  travelling  agents  in  such  case,  of  the 
class  who  could  at  any  rate  be  induced  to  engage  in  so  unpleas- 
ant, uncertain,  and  laborious  business.  These  circumstances 
have  imposed  it  upon  me,  as  a  necessity,  to  do  a  great  portion 
of  the  out-door  labor  thus  far,  of  getting  up  and  carrying  forward 
this  paper  establishment  in  the  community. 

"Besides  the  above  named  labors,  I  attended  quite  extensively 
to  gardening  during  my  seven  years  in  Waterville  and  three 
years  in  Waltham,  and  to  farming  on  the  Parsonage  the  ten  years 
in  Maiden ;  and  served  two  terms  in  the  Legislature  of  Maine, 
and  two  in  that  of  Massachusetts. 

"But  amidst  all  my  labors  and  responsibilities,  God  has  pre- 
served unto  me  almost  unvarying  health,  cheerfulness,  and  hap- 
piness. He  has  blessed  me  in  my  family,  and  in  many  thou- 
sands of  worthy  friends  in  the  world.     May  the  future  portion 


THE   MEMOIR.  437 

of  my  life  be  devoted  more  faithfully  and  successfully  to  his  ser- 
vice." 

Thus  far  I  believe  no  allusion  has  been  made  to  Mr. 
Cobb's  ideas  and  position  upon  the  subject  of  Capital  Pun- 
ishment. As  I  have  once  had  occasion  to  remark,  he  al- 
lowed no  attachment  to  any  single  idea  to  lead  him  into 
forgetfulness  of  the  weal  of  society  at  large.  Could  he 
have  been  brought  to  understand  that  the  good  and  safety 
of  society  required  the  judicial  taking  of  human  life,  he 
would  have  'allowed  no  mere  sentiment  of  horror  at  the 
thought  of  hanging  to  lead  him  away  from  what  his  judg- 
ment told  him  was  the  path  of  duty.  But  he  did  not  be- 
lieve that  the  gallows  was  a  healthy  institution.  He  be- 
lieved that  the  real  good  of  a  people  could  not  require  the 
execution  of  a  deed  so  fraught  with  inhumanity  and  horror. 

Mr.  Cobb  wrote  much,  and  spoke  much  in  public,  upon 
this  subject ;  and  his  chief  aim  was  to  show  that  society 
w^ould  be  the  gainer  by  making  the  punishment  for  crime 
sure  to  follow  the  commission  thereof,  and  also  in  showing 
to  the  murderously  inclined  that  the  law  of  a  Christian  peo- 
ple held  human  life  as  something  too  sacred  to  be  taken  in 
cold  blood. 

As  the  reader  is  verj''  well  aware,  Mr.  Cobb  was,  during 
his  life-time,  engaged  in  many  important  and  labored  dis- 
cussions with  various  champions  of  the  Limitarian  faith, 
and  most  of  these  will  be  found  noticed  in  order  according 
to  the  respective  dates  of  their  occurrence  ;  but  there  is  one 
which  I  wish  to  notice  more  for  the  purpose  of  giving  some- 
thing like  a  bit  of  anecdotal  entertainment  than  for  any- 
thing else  ;  and  I  will  bring  it  in  now  while  I  think  of  it. 
I  allude  to  the  passage-at-arms  between  himself  and  Rev. 
A.  W.  M'Clure.  While  Mr.  Cobb  resided  in  Maiden  Mr. 
M'Clure  was  called  to  the  pastorship  of  the  Orthodox 
37* 


438  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

Society  in  that  town.  It  will  be  remembered  that  this  Or- 
thodox Society  was  the  body  which  had  been  "  left  out  in 
the  cold"  by  the  gaining  of  the  "  First  Parish"  property  to 
the  Universalists  ;  and  as  the  members  of  that  body  had 
never  forgiven  those  who  overcame  them  in  that  old  con- 
test, it  was  quite  natural  that  their  minister,  when  they 
came  to  settle  one,  should  imbibe  much  of  their  prejudicial 
feelings.  Mr.  IM'Clure  was  a  warm-hearted,  impulsive 
man,  fluent  and  passionate,  and  very  apt  to  allow  his  feel- 
ings to  run  away  with  his  tongue,  even  in  the  pulpit. 
Some  warm  revival  operations  were  going  on  in  that  region, 
which  Mr.  M'C.  was  doing  much  to  aid,  and  Mr.  Cobb 
delivered  and  published  two  sermons  on  the  subject  there- 
of, entitled"  Christian  Warnings,"  upon  which  Mr.  M'Clure 
came  out  with  a  series  of  "  Lectures  on  ultra  UniversaUsm" 
which  were  published  in  book-form. 

I  was  but  a  mere  child  then  —  not  more  than  ten  years 
of  age  —  but  I  remember  those  lectures  very  well,  and  I 
remember  how  different  people  were  variously  affected. 
Some  were  delighted ;  —  those  were  a  few  of  the  vindictive 
ones  who  had  suffered  themselves  to  believe  that  the  Uni- 
versalists had  robbed  them  of  their  property.  Others  were 
surprised,  —  others  were  astonished,  —  while  many  were 
chagrined  and  mortified.  I  remember  how,  when  the  book 
came  out,  I  used  to  open  to  certain  passages  wherein  per- 
sonal attacks  were  made  upon  my  father,  and  wonder  at  the 
genius  of  the  man  who  could  prostitute  the  pulpit  to  such 
invective.  In  fact,  I  read  those  passages  as  I  read  the  say- 
ings of  the  renowned  Blunderbore  in  the  then,  to  me,  verita- 
ble history  of  "  Jack  the  Giant-Killer."  There  was  one 
passage  in  which  the  Reverend  lecturer  divided  the  Chris- 
tian world  into  two  vast  fields,  —  or,  one  field  divided  into 
two  parts,  —  and  on  one  side  he  gathered  all  the  patri- 


THE   MEMOIR,  439 

archs,  and  prophets^  and  apostles,  and  priests,  and  teachers 
of  Christendom,  from  the  earliest  daj's  down  to  the  present ; 
and  on  the  other  side,  coming  forth  to  vanquish  and  to  con- 
quer all,  he  pictured  "the  great  and  mighty  Sylvanus 
Cobb  !  "  I  remember  I  thought  how  grand  it  was,  and  I 
wondered  if  he  really  meant  to  ascribe  such  mighty  powers 
to  my  respected  progenitor.  I  was  too  young  and  unso- 
phisticated then  to  see  and  comprehend  the  amazing  wit 
and  sarcasm  of  the  figure.  And  I  remember  also  how  freely 
he  recommended  to  Universalists  the  use  of  "  ropes,"  "  hal- 
ters," "  garters,"  "  pistols,"  "  butcher-knives,"  "  fire,"  and 
the  like,  as  instrumentalities  by  which  they  might  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye  throw  off  this  tenement  of  clay,  and 
leap  at  once  into  everlasting  glory  ! 

But  that  passage  in  his  lectures  which  I  particularly  re- 
member, not  only  on  account  of  the  oddity  of  the  charge  it 
prefers,  but  also  on  account  of  its  truthfulness,  is  that  in 
which  he  illustrates  the  ''' insincerity  of  Universalists  J' 
Here  is  one  of  his  points  :  — 

*' A  second  circumstance  which  discredits  Universalist  sincer- 
ity, is,  that  they  commonly  swear  Orthodox  oaths.  Of  this  fact 
everybody  is  aware.  Let  them  get  angry,  and  you  hear  nothing 
but  hell,  the  devil,  and  damnation." 

I  cannot  imagine  what  the  man  was  thinking  of.  He  did 
not  claim  that  Universalism  led  to  profanity  ;  but  directly 
the  opposite.  If  Universalists  wished  to  be  profane  they 
were  forced  to  flee  to  their  Orthodox  friends  to  borrow  their 
oaths.  And  then,  as  though  entirely  forgetting  where  he 
was,  and  in  what  garb  he  stood,  he  gave  his  hearers  an  ex- 
ample of  "  UniverBalist  swearing."  Here  it  is,  as  it  came 
from  his  lips,  and  as  it  was  published  in  the  first  edition  of 


440  JIEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,  D.D. 

his  book,  —  though  I  believe  that  in  subsequent  editions 
this,  with  some  other  passages,  has  been  stricken  out ;  — 

' '  To  set  this  subject  clearly  before  you,  suppose  you  should 
hear  a  married  couple  of  that  persuasion  engage  in  high  debate, 
and  attempting  to  scold  in  consistency  with  their  doctrine. 

*'  Husband.    My  dear,  I  wish  the  angel  Gabriel  had  you. 

"  Wife.  My  love,  I  wish  you  was  in  glory,  with  all  my  heart ; 
you  are  not  fit  to  live  anywhere  else  ! 

'*  Husband.  O,  you  torment !  I  swear  I  wish  you  was  blessed : 
God  save  your  cursed  soul  to  heaven ! " 

Mr.  Cobb,  in  paying  his  compliments  to  the  book,  thus 
speaks  of  this  passage  :  — 

"  See,  kind  reader,  what  a  masterly  painting  the  Reverend 
lecturer  has  drawn  of  the  moral  force  of  Universalism.  Here  is 
a  husband,  angered  in  a  guardless  moment,  —  and  he  opens  his 
mouth  to  curse  his  wife.  The  curse  is  half  way  down  his  tongue, 
when  he  happens  to  think  of  Universalism,  and  out  comes  a 
blessing.  The  wife,  too,  in  a  momentary  pet,  undertakes  to 
curse  her  husband,  and  with  the  curse  nearly  spoken,  she  thinks 
of  Universalism,  and  the  word  becomes  a  blessing.  How  sub- 
lime is  the  moral  power  of  that  religion,  the  very  thought  of 
which,  even  in  the  moment  of  turmoil  and  passion,  will  change  a 
curse  to  a  blessing,  and  sweeten  wrath  to  love  and  peace.  And 
such  is  the  moral  power  which  this  Goliah  of  Orthodoxy  is  con- 
strained by  his  own  moral  instincts  to  ascribe  to  Universalism. 

**In  behalf  of  the  Universalist  denomination,  we  tender  thanks 
to  Mr.  M'Clure  for  his  just  rebuke  of  those  nominal  members  of 
our  order  who  meanly  steal  from  Orthodoxy  the  very  constitu- 
ent elements  of  their  most  shameful  practices." 

And  in  closing  this  chapter  allow  me  to  say,  what  may 
have  been  said  in  substance  already,  and  what  I  may  allude 
to  again,  that  no  man  had  a  better  right  to  speak  freely 
against  profanity  than  had  Mr.  Cobb,  for  I  believe  that 
during  the  whole  of  his  life  there  was  never  heard  from  his 


THE   MEMOIR.  441 

lips  a  low,  passionate  expletive  of  any  description.  No 
such  phrases  as  "  My  gracious  ! "  "  M^^  conscience  !"  nor 
anything  that  could  take  the  place  thereof  in  spirit  and  in- 
tent, were  in  his  vocabulary.  There  was  something  really 
peculiar  in  his  utter  freedom  from  everything  of  t\ie  kind. 
Surely 

"  There's  nothing  ill  can  dwell  in  such  a  Temple." 


442  REV.    SYLVANUS   COBB,  D.D. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Signs  of  Wear,  —  The  Christmas  Tree,  —  The  last 
"New  Year"  to  the  Unbroken  Band,  —  James  Ar- 
thur,—  His  Sickness  and  Death,  —  Sarah  "Wait, — 
Her  Departure. 

A  MAN  of  iron,  with  nerves  of  steel,  —  a  man  conscious 
of  his  entire  immunity  from  the  pains  and  penalties  of  over- 
work and  extreme  mental  and  physical  taxation,  —  a  man 
set  above  the  narrow  limits  of  human  possibilities, — 
seemed  almost  to  be  the  Editor  of  the  Christian  Freeman. 
And  5^et  that  man  was  made  like  other  men,  —  with  a  body 
subject  to  physical  laws,  and  with  nerves  that  could  not  be 
estopped  from  bearing  along  their  magnetic  highways  the 
messages  of  sense  and  pain.  Even  now,  as  he  entered  upon 
the  second  half-century  of  his  life,  there  were  signs  and 
tokens  of  wear  upon  his  stalwart  frame.  There  were  pains 
in  his  back,  near  the  scapular  regions  of  the  right  side  ;  and 
there  were  times  when  much  speaking  gave  him  trouble. 
But  he  thought  of  "rheumatism,"  and  of  "slight  colds," 
and  paid  no  heed.  Earl}^  and  late  he  was  at  his  work, 
deeming  that  he  was  never  stronger  —  never  better.  When 
his  voice  once  utterly  failed  him  in  -the  desk,  and  the  writer 
of  these  memoirs  was  called  to  read  the  remainder  of  his 
sermon  for  him,  he  fancied  that  a  simple  application  of 
some  healing  remedy,  and  a  few  hours  of  rest,  would  dissi- 
pate all  the  trouble  and  remove  the  cause.  He  never  knew 
how,  even  then,  the  finger  of  disease  had  placed  its  weaken- 


THE  MEMOIR.  443 

ing  touch  upon  the  machinery  that  had  borne  so  much ;  but 
in  years  then  to  come  the  son  who  read  his  sermon  for  him 
on  that  occasion  was  to  behold  that  blighting  finger-touch, 
and  was  to  see  whence  arose  the  trouble  which  he,  bold, 
fearless  man,  held  so  lightly ! 

As  I  write  these  lines  I  have  at  my  elbow,  clipped  from 
the  columns  of  his  paper,  numerous  articles  highly  com- 
mendatory of  his  course  as  an  editor,  and  of  the  general 
tone  and  character  of  his  publication.  Among  them  I  find 
a  communication  from  a  poor  widow  who  must  stop  her 
paper  because  she  can  no  longer  aflbrd  to  take  it.  Her 
husband  is  gone,  and  she  must,  in  justice  to  her  children, 
curtail  her  expenses,  even  to  the  sacrifice  of  the  weekly 
visits  of  the  Friend  she  had  learned  to  love  so  well.  And 
does  Mr.  Cobb  draw  his  pen  across  that  woman's  name  on 
the  page  of  his  mail-book?  No,  no.  It  was  not  his 
nature.  Thus  his  pen  moves  :  —  "If  that  bereaved  family 
will  accept  the  Freeman  another  year,  it  is  theirs  in  wel- 
come." 

A  small  thing,  —  a  simple  stroke  of  the  pen  ;  —  but  it 
was  the  impulse  of  the  heart  of  a  man  who  would  have 
bestowed  thousands  had  they  been  his  to  give. 

I  love  to  look  over  those  documents.  Thej^  are  treas- 
ures to  me,  bearing  a  gem  in  every  line,  —  indices  along 
his  pathway  of  earth,  pointing  out  the  thickly  crowding 
events  of  his  useful  life  as  they  transpired  ;  —  precious  to 
his  loved  ones  ;  but  they  might  fail  to  interest  the  general 
reader,  and  I  pass  them  by. 

On  Christmas  evening,  1850,  was  introduced  into  the 
"Castle"  a  custom,  or  ceremony,  which  was  followed  up 
while  there  were  members  enough  of  the  family  within  call 
to  make  it  interesting.  The  following  account,  taken  from 
the  Freeman,  will  give  an  idea  of  the  joyous  occasion  ;  for 


444  REV.    SYLVANUS    CODE,  D.D. 

I  remember  very  -well  that  it  was  both  joyous  and  jubilant ; 
and  the  youngest  child  of  them  all,  clapping  its  tiny  hands 
in  delight  over  the  glittering  bestowment  of  Santa  Clans, 
was  not  more  pleased  and  gratified,  and  moved  to  blissful 
realization,  than  was  the  stout  patriarch  from  whose  loins 
that  family  had  sprung  :  — 

"OUR  CHRISTMAS  TREE. 

"  On  the  evening  of  the  25th  we  introduced  into  our  domicile 
the  ceremony  of  the  CHRISTMAS  TREE.  The  Tree  was  a 
native  Pine  of  Maiden,  a  present  from  our  friend,  George  Sar- 
gent. This  was  erected  in  the  Parlor;  and  suspended  on  its 
branches,  and  orderly  arranged  upon  the  pedestal,  were  Boxes, 
Books,  Gloves,  Furs,  Fans,  Jewelry,  Dresses,  Kerchiefs,  Pen- 
knives, Brushes,  Combs,  Baskets,  Pens,  Stationery,  recently 
published  Games  for  the  amusement  and  instruction  of  the 
young,  Toys  of  various  kinds,  Confectionery,  &c.,  &c.,  each 
article  being  labelled  with  the  name  of  the  subject  of  the  gift. 
Among  the  generous  contributors  to  this  richly  laden  Tree,  were 
our  friends,  B.  B.  Mussey,  Esq.,  Phillips  &  Sampson,  Abel 
-Tompkins,  Esq.,  Ticknor,  Reed  &  Co.,  James  French,  Wm.  B. 
Little,  Crosby  and  Nichols,  Anson  Peck,  and  Heyer  &  Co.  A 
spread  table  in  a  corner  of  the  room  was  loaded  with  varieties 
of  rich  and  delicately  manufactured  cake,  all  a  contribution 
from  Charles  Copeland,  and  nuts  and  fruits,  from  Gilson  & 
Plenry. 

"At  half  past  7  o'clock,  when  the  Queen  of  the  Castle,  with 
a  little  of  our  assistance,  had  got  all  these  matters  arranged  in 
secret,  a  message  was  sent  to  the  waiting  family  in  the  chamber, 
which,  with  children  and  grand-children,  made  a  company  of 
fifteen,  besides  three  or  four  visiting  friends,  and  they  marched 
in  procession  into  the  illuminated  parlors.  As  they  entered,  filed, 
and  formed  in  front  of  the  generous  Christmas  Tree,  their  sweetly 
varying  voices,  from  the  manhood  of  twenty-eight  to  the  child- 
hood of  three  years,  chimed  in  loud  and  repeated  huzzas.  They 
surrounded  the  Tree,  progressively  spied  out  their  respective 
labels  upon  the  gifts  of  Kriss  Kringle,  an  exercise  which  occu- 
pied some  thirty  minutes.     Then  refreshments  were  served,  — 


THE   MEMOIR,  445 

after  which  the  Tree  was  harvested,  each  gathering  his  or  her 
own,  — and  this  was  an  agreeable  labor. 

*'  The  harvest  being  finished,  all  becoming  possessed  of  their 
portions  respectively  of  the  products  of  the  Tree,  the  residue  of 
the  evening  was  spent  in  music,  conversation,  and  experiment- 
ing on  the  new  Games,  till  10  o'clock,  when,  as  an  exercise 
than  which  none  was  more  interesting,  we  sung  two  Christmas 
hymns  from  the  Family  Singing  Book,  to  the  tunes  of  Sherburn 
and  Westbrook,  in  which  all  but  the  little  grand- children  were 
able  to  join.  Then  followed  prayer  and  thanksgiving.  And 
should  not  a  family  offer  prayer  and  praise  upon  the  altar  of 
glowing  hearts,  who  live  in  the  blessed  light  of  Christ,  whose 
birth  we  celebrated  ? 

"  Such  is  a  biief  history  of  the  CHRISTMAS  TREE,Mn  the 
house  of  Sylvanus,  Dec.  25,  1850." 

At  the  opening  of  the  year  1851,  Mr.  Cobb  wished  his 
kind  Friends  and  Patrons  A  HAPPY  NEW  YEAR 
through  the  columns  of  his  paper,  and  thereupon  took 
occasion  to  indulge  in  a  little  retrospection  of  the  past, 
and  healthy  resolve  for  the  future.     He  asks  :  — 

"And  what  are  we  to  accomplish  .^^  What  shall  the  now  cur- 
rent half  of  the  nineteenth  century  bring  to  pass  in  our  country 
and  world  ?  The  past  half  has  accomplished  much.  When  we 
take  a  retrospect  of  the  last  fifty  years,  and  see  what  progress 
has  been  made  in  the  sciences,  the  arts,  and  in  religious  knowl- 
edge, we  inquire  with  solicitous  interest,  can  the  future  fifty 
accomplish  so  much  ?  If  it  does,  where  shall  we  be,  or  where 
will  our  children  be,  in  the  year  1900  ?  We  cannot  attempt  to 
measure  the  height  and  distance  of  the  world's  progress. 

"  There  is  no  one  branch  of  human  improvement  which  equals 
that  in  the  mode  and  expedition  of  conveyance.  Soon  alter  we 
moved  to  Massachusetts,  twenty-three  j^ears  ago,  we  had  occa- 
sion to  ride  through  Brighton,  and  seeing  a  nicely  graded  road 
in  progress,  we  were  informed,  upon  our  inquiry,  that  it  was  to 
be  a  railroad  from  Boston  to  Worcester.  We  believe  the 
Lowell  railroad  was  then  nearly  finished.  When  the  cost  was 
estimated,  it  was  generally  apprehended  that  the  speculation 
38 


446  REV.    STLVANUS   COBB^    D.D. 

would  render  bankrupt  the  proprietors.  But  now,  so  soon,  New 
England,  especially  Massachusetts,  is  literally  checkered  with 
railroads,  oflering  their  facilities  to  almost  every  neighborhood  ; 
they  stretch,  also,  from  the  Kennebec  to  the  Mississippi,  and  will 
soon  extend  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  through  the  broad- 
est part  of  the  North  American  continent." 

His  prognostics  for  the  future,  and  his  earnest  prayers 
for  the  increasing  good  of  God's  children  everywhere,  are 
such  as  might  be  expected  from  his  pen.  And  I  believe 
that  on  such  occasions  he  nerved  himself  anew  for  the 
labors  he  had  planned  to  perform  towards  making  the 
world  better  and  happier. 

On  Thanksgiving  day  of  1851  Mr.  Cobb's  family  were 
all  assembled  beneath  the  old  roof-tree  of  the  "  Castle," 
for  another  of  those  festive  occasions  which  were  always 
sure  to  yield  much  of  pure  and  unadulterated  good.  The 
following  is  the  father's  record  ;  — 

"  We  had  beautiful  weather  for  thanksgiving  last  week.  It  is 
a  pleasant  occasion  —  this  annual  Thanksgiving-day  by  executive 
appointment.  It  makes  the  interest  of  it  general.  Many  scat- 
tered families  were  gathered  together  last  Thursday  week,  and 
mingled  souls,  and  renewed  old  affections,  and  increased  domes- 
tic happiness. 

'.'  To  us  it  was  a  glorious  day.  We  made  a  group  of  seven- 
teen, with  our  children  and  grandchildren ;  and  all  were  pleased 
and  thankful. 

"In  the  evening  we  dedicated  to  Him  whose  they  are,  two 
grandchildren,  daughter  and  son  of  Samuel  Tucker  Cobb,  the 
Printer  of  the  Freeman.  By  the  names,  Lucy  Holmes,  and  Sam- 
uel Tucker,  they  were,  in  the  interesting  service  framed  by 
father  Murray,  filially  confided,  for  time  and  eternity,  to  the  God 
and  Father  of  all,  whose  nature  is  love,  and  whose  grace  never 
faileth. 

"Many  more  such  anniversaries  may  we  enjoy." 

But  that  was  the  last  Thanksgiving  Day  of  Gubernatorial 


THE   MEMOIR.  447 

appointment  which  the  family  were  to  enjoj^  with  a  band 
unbroken.  The  time  was  approaching  when  one  of  their 
number  was  to  be  taken  from  them  — 

"  *        *       .  *         *        Their  sweetest,  fairest  one, 
In  that  it  was  their  youngest  " 

James  Arthur,  who  was  nine  years  of  age  on  the  2 2d  of 
December  of  that  j^ear,  had  been  failing  in  health  for  some 
time.  In  his  earlier  childhood,  before  the  hand  of  disease 
had  been  laid  upon  him,  he  was  like  other  children  who  try 
to  be  good  and  true.  He  had  all  the  loves,  the  instincts, 
and  the  passions  of  his  age,  and  the  same  things  pleased 
him  and  fretted  him  that  pleased  and  fretted  others.  He 
was,  from  his  infancy  to  his  eighth  j^ear,  seemingly  robust 
and  strong,  and  there  appeared  no  reason  why  he  might  not 
grow  up  to  stalwart  manhood.  During  these  years  he  was 
the  light  and  joy  of  the  household  ;  and  I  cannot  forget  how 
many  a  hearty  laugh  his  jocund  spirit  and  precociousness 
of  witticism  gave  us  at  the  festive  board.  But  as  he  ap- 
proached the  age  of  eight  years  a  change  came  over  him. 
Without  any  cause  which  the  parents  could  understand  his 
health  began  to  fail,  and  his  buoyancy  of  spirit  began  to 
give  place  to  the  thoughts  and  reflections  of  maturer  years. 
Some  time  before  this  he  had  received  a  severe  kick  from  a 
horse,  the  blow  taking  effect  just  below  the  breast  on  the 
left  side,  and  there  was  some  apprehension  that  this  might 
have  been  a  remote  cause  of  the  difficulty  ;  but  medical  men 
decided  otherwise.  Those  whose  judgment  was  based  upon 
long  experience  decided  that  the  trouble  was  an  organic  dis- 
ease of  the  heart.  This  the  parents  did  not  wish  to  believe  ; 
and,  wishing  so  strongl}^,  the}^  sought  all  possible  reasons 
for  not  believing. 

As  is  often  the  case  with  children,  and  with  older  people 


448  REV.    SYLVANUS   COBB,   D.D. 

as  well,  when  James  Arthur's  body  began  to  fail,  his  mind 
commenced  to  strengthen  ;  and  as  the  earthly  nature  became 
cramped  by  disease,  the  spiritual  nature  developed  itself  in 
a  remarkable  degree  ;  and  towards  the  close  of  his  life  there 
was  something  perfectly  heavenly  in  his  thoughts  and  con- 
versation. Had  he  remained  strong  and  robust,  and  able  to 
engage  in  the  rough,  erratic  sports  of  boyhood,  this  might 
not  have  been  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  had  not  his  nature 
thus  led  the  instincts  of  his  soul,  and  had  not  his  early 
education  been  of  the  proper  kind,  no  amount  of  physical 
weakness  could  have  called  forth  the  heavenly  spirit ;  for 
that  cannot  be  developed  which  has  no  existence  in  the 
soul. 

I  know  the  reader  will  pardon  me  for  what  I  write  in  this 
connection  ;  for  I  do  it  in  the  firm  conviction  that  it  will  be 
of  interest.  Remember,  I  do  not  claim  that  "  Jimmy  "  was 
one  whit  better  than  are  thousands  of  boys  scattered  all 
over  this  land  where  Christian  mothers  have  their  homes  ; 
nor  was  he  more  to  be  loved  than  is  j'our  sweet  boy,  my 
dear  sister.  But,  like  j^our  own  bud  of  blessed  promise,  he 
was  a  good  boy  ;  he  had  ever  been  a  most  loving  and  duti- 
ful child;  and  the  home  which  we  loved  had  been  made 
brisfhter  and  better  because  he  had  lived  in  it.  I  would 
speak  particularly  of  a  few  things  connected  with  this  trans- 
ition stage  of  his  life,  because  they  are  most  truly  interest- 
ing. I  have  never  known  a  case  where  the  spirit  of  a 
dweller  upon  earth  came  so  near  to  the  heavenly  gate  as  did 
his.  There  doubtless  have  been  many  such  cases  ;  but  none 
of  them  have  come  to  my  ken.  You  who  trample  upon  the 
Bible  as  a  book  not  to  be  credited  I  do  not  ask  to  read 
what  I  shall  write  ;  for  to  you  there  may  be  no  significance 
in  a  heavenly  vision ;  but  you  who  honor  that  Sacred  Vol- 


THE   MEMOIR.  449 

ume  can  perhaps  give  respectful  consideration  to  the  inci- 
dent I  am  about  to  relate. 

For  some  time  the  boy  had  been  confined  mostly  to  the 
house,  and  a  greater  part  of  the  time,  to  his  chamber.  He 
had  come  to  converse  upon  spiritual  things  as  subjects  in 
which  he  felt  a  deep  and  abiding  interest ;  and  many  visit- 
ers grown  to  adult  age  gained  lessons  of  wisdom  from  his 
lips.  His  Bible  was  his  constant  companion,  and  when  he 
was  not  able  to  read  himself,  he  got  others  to  read  its 
inspired  pages  for  him.  And  to  pra3^er  he  gave  much 
attention,  often  requesting  his  parents  to  join  with  him  in 
that  devotional  exercise.  This  could  not  have  been  the 
result  of  any  influence  exerted  upon  him  at  that  time  by 
others  ;  for  it  was  the  aim  of  his  parents,  and  of  his 
brothers  and  sisters,  to  turn  his  mind  to  thoughts  of 
worldly  joys  in  the  time  to  come,  when  he  should  get  well 
and  strong  again.  Of  course  the}'  did  not  seek  to  divert 
his  mind  from  these  devotional  and  spiritual  reflections. 
Far  from  it.  The}^  loved  to  dwell  upon  the  holj^  inspira- 
tion that  seemed  to  move  his  utterance.  But  they  did  not 
invite  such  conversation.  Feeling  that  the  bent  of  the 
mind,  or  will,  had  much  to  do  with  recovery  from  the 
thraldom  of  disease,  they  sought  to  make  him  think  of 
getting  well,  and  of  joining  once  more  in  the  sports  of 
other  days.  But  all  to  no  avail.  At  times,  as  though  to 
please  the  anxious  ones  who  stood  around  him,  he  would 
speak  of  getting  well,  and  of  growing  up  to  be  a  "  great 
man  ; "  but  such  was  not  the  instinctive  turn  of  his  medi- 
tations. 

On  Saturday,  December  6th,  Jimmy  had  seemed  to  be 

more  sick  than  usual.     Towards  evening,  while  sitting  in 

his  great  easy  chair,  and  while  his  eldest  sister  was  by  his 

side,  he  said  to  her,  in  a  calm,  rational  tone,  as  though  he 

38* 


450  REV.    SYLVAXUS    COBB,    D.D. 

had  been  some  time  considering  the  matter,  —  "  Haley,  I 
think  this  is  the  last  night  I  shall  spend  with  you."  And 
then  he  began  to  talk  of  angels,  remarking  that  when  he 
was  an  angel  his  sufferings  would  be  at  an  end.  At  this 
juncture  his  sister,  who  feared  that  he  might  be  passing 
awa}",  called  to  her  mother,  who  immediately  after  entered 
the  room  ;  and  when  she  heard  the  words  that  were  falling 
from  her  darling's  lips  she  was  moved  to  take  a  pencil  and 
paper,  and  write  them  down.  While  he  was  speaking,  his 
sister  stood  over  him  and  pressed  her  palm  upon  his  brow, 
and  directly  he  reached  up  his  hand  as  though  in  trouble, 
saying  to  her,  —  "Don't  put  your  hand  there,  Haley.  I 
don't  see  out  of  my  ej^es  as  you  do.  You've  got  j'our  hand 
where  my  sight  comes  in." 

The  sister  removed  her  hand,  and  presently  afterwards 
the  boy  beheld  an  angel  host  gathering  about  him.  He 
was  not  asleep,  nor  was  he  in  any  such  state  of  trance  as 
the  so-called  "  spiritual  media  "  talk  about ;  but  he  was 
entirely  awake,  in  possession  of  his  full  waking  senses,  and 
what  there  might  have  been  of  abnormal  state  was  super- 
added to  the  normal.  His  eyes  were  closed  of  his  own 
volition,  because  the  moment  the  hand  was  placed  upon 
his  brow  he  opened  them,  and  asked  that  the  obstruction 
might  be  removed.  "Oh!  What  a  beautiful  sight!"  he 
cried.  And  then,  in  answer  to  questions  from  his  mother 
and  sister,  he  described  what  he  saw.  He  beheld  a  circle 
of  little  angels,  gathering  about  him,  with  wreaths  of 
flowers  upon  their  heads,  and  holding  each  other  by  the 
hand ;  and  they  smiled  upon  him,  and  w^hispered  one  to 
another,  and  pronounced  his  name.  By  and  by  older 
angels  came,  and  he  recognized  his  Uncle  Eben,  who  had 
passed  away  from  earth  some  six  months  previously.  And 
here  I  will  make  an  extract  from  the  account  which  his 


THE   MEMOIR.  451 

mother  wrote  nt  the  time.     He  had  been  asked  if  he  could 
tell  what  the  angels  said  to  him  :  — 

*'  *  Yes,  but  I  can't  tell  you  as  they  tell  me,  for  they  sing  it 
beautifully.     We  can't  sing  so.' 

*'  He  was  then  asked  to  tell  what  they  said. 

"  *  Keep  still,'  said  he  ;  '  don't  talk,  and  I  will  listen  and  tell 
you.' 

"  'They  say,  "  Come,  little  Jimmy,  and  be  happy  with  us."' 

"'Grandma  is  speaking  now.  She  says,  "You  are  a  good 
little  boy,  Jimmy,  and  if  you  come  now,  I  will  take  care  of 
you."' 

"' Uncle  Eben  is  speaking  now,'  said  he.  'He  says  Eunice 
and  Hitty  have  been  here  to-day  (these  were  his  two  daughters 
who  had  spent  the  night  with  us)  ;  write  and  tell  them  that  I  am 
happy,  and  if  you  do  not  get  better,  you  shall  come  and  be  with 
me  in  this  world  of  love  and  joy."  ' 

"  Again  he  spoke,  '  Oh,  this  is  Sally.''  (My  feelings  here  were 
indescribable ;  for  this  was  a  dear  sister  of  mine,  who  died 
before  I  was  married,  and  whom  he  knew  nothing  about.)  He 
was  asked  what  she  said  to  him.  *  She  says,  "  You  have  a  good 
mother,  Jimmy,  and  if  you  do  not  stay  with  her,  you  will  come 
here  and  be  happy,  and  I  will  be  like  a  sister  to  you." ' 

"  After  resting  a  few  moments,  apparently  in  deep  thought, 
he  turned  to  me  and  calmly  said,  '  Mother,  I  have  one  word 
more  to  say,  and  that  is,  if  I  should  fall  asleep,  never  more  to 
awake,  I  want  you  all  to  live,  a  happy  family,  in  peace,  and 
often  think  of  yonv  dear  little  boy  Jimmy.' 

"He  then  looked  around  the  room,  and  inquired  how  many 
were  present.  On  being  told,  he  sweetly  said,  '  There  is  one 
wanting,  my  dear  father  ."^  He  was  told  that  he  should  be  imme- 
diately sent  for,  though  we  were  fearful  he  might  not  arrive  to 
see  him,  as  he  had  been  obliged  to  leave  the  city  for  a  few  hours. 
After  this  he  seemed  more  quiet,  and  asked,  '  if  we  should  know 
when  he  w^as  dead  ?  '  He  felt  that  he  was  '  falling  asleep.'  On 
being  assured  that  we  should  know,  he  remained,  as  if  going  to 
sleep,  for  some  moments,  and  then  brightening  up,  he  said  with 
a  stronger  voice,  —  '  I  guess  I  shall  live  longer ;  I  don't  think  I 
shall  die  now;  and  the  angels  said,  "if  I  did  not  get  better,  I 
should  come  and  be  with  them,"  and  the  angels  arc  leaving  me.' 


452  BEV.     SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D, 

In  a  few  moments  he  said,  *  They  are  going/  and  again,  ♦  They 
are  all  gone.'  He  seemed  to  see  many  who  were  waiting  for 
him,  and  all  appeared  happy. 

"  Shortly  after  this,  he  turned  to  speak  to  his  little  niece,  who 
stood  beside  him,  Avhen  he  said,  'O  no,  there  is  one  angel  flying 
around  in  the  air,  Avith  a  wreath  on  its  little  finger.  This  is  my 
guardian  angel.' " 

After  this  he  sank  into  a  quiet  slumber,  and  for  a  time 
lie  seemed  to  revive.  On  the  following  day  he  conversed 
joj'fully  about  his  vision,  every  particular  of  which  w^as  as 
vividly  imprinted  in  his  memory  as  could  have  been  the 
particulars  of  any  other  actual  occurrence  ;  and  during  the 
conversation  his  mother  asked  him  how  he  knew  that  the 
angel  he  had  recognized  as  such  was  her  sister  Sally.  "Be- 
cause," he  answered,  "  she  told  me  so.  The  first  thing  she 
said  to  me  was,  that  she  was  my  mother's  sister." 

And  from  that  hour  the  boy  had  no  fears  of  death.  In 
fact,  he  looked  forward  with  anticipations  of  joy  to  the  time 
when  he  should  join  that  angelic  band.  And  the  influence 
upon  the  mind  of  his  father  w^as  of  the  most  peaceful  and 
happifying  kind,  though  he  was  by  no  means  reconciled  to 
the  thought  of  giving  up  his  darling.  The  following  letter, 
written  some  weeks  later,  gives  a  true  index  of  that  father's 
feelings.  No  one  can  read  it  without  experiencing  a  pro- 
found reverence  for  the  spirit  which  dictated  it,  and  a  sym- 
pathy with  the  throbbings  of  his  great  heart :  — 

*'  Sandwich,  Sunday  Noon,  Jan.  25, 1852. 

"My  dear  Wife: 

"I  parted  with  you  yesterday  with  new  and  pleasing  hopes, 
which  greatly  lighten  and  cheer  ni}'  spirit.  That  25recious  little 
boy  has  the  ties  of  affection  so  strongly  wound  around  my  heart 
that  I  could  not  give  him  up.  And  then  I  have  great  regard  to 
the  important  mission  which  his  pure  and  masterly  mind  may 


THE  MEMOIR.  453 

perform  on  earth.  My  soul  has  labored  in  prayer  night  and 
day,  that  God  would  give  and  preserve  unto  us  this  noble  and 
lovely  boy ;  but  my  spirit  was  bowed  down  by  the  weight  of  a 
dubious  prospect  in  this  respect.  I  know  it  will  be  happy  for 
him  to  ascend  to  the  angelic  sphere,  and  that,  as  we  are  to  pass 
the  ordeal  which  frees  us  from  earth,  it  matters  but  little  to  us 
when  that  may  be,  as  God  wills.  But  my  heart  clings  with  a 
strong  grasp  to  the  idea  of  a  noble  earthly  mission  for  our  blessed 
James  Arthur.  And  the  result  of  our  visit  yesterday  gives  me 
much  encouragement.*  You  know,  from  conversations  we  have 
often  held,  that  I  have  much  confidence  in  that  method  of  treat- 
ment, and  I  have  also  much  confidence  in  the  diagnosis,  so  freely 
and  so  understandingly  made,  and  it  commends  itself  to  my  rea- 
son as  correct.  And  I  can  but  hope  that  this  is  a  means  which 
God  has  appointed,  in  answer  to  the  prayers  he  has  inspired,  for 
relieving  and  restoring  the  darling  boy.  O  !  if  he  will  do  this, 
I  will  work  with  new  life,  and  no  earthly  labor  shall  be  other- 
wise than  light  and  joyous. 

"  I  do  not  love  the  less  our  other  children.  I  have  a  sentiment 
in  my  heart  that  we  have  yet  a  great  work  to  do  as  an  unbroken 
band.  They  are  all  equally  dear  to  me,  from  the  oldest  to  the 
youngest,  -j-  *  *  *  down  through  all  the  ages  and  varieties 
of  gifts,  they  are  beautifully  adapted  to  that  mutual  aid  without 
interference,  which  shall  make  them  all  parts  of  one  harmonious 
and  prosperous  whole. 

"You  will,  of  course,  apply  freely  the  new  prescriptions, 
which  I  consider  safe,  at  least ;  and  Jimmy  will  cheerfully  take 
all  with  a  good  heart ;  with  prospect  of  a  relief  from  his  suffer- 
ings ;  and,  I  hope  and  pray,  in  due  time,  a  return  to  comfortable 
health.  Let  the  other  children  render  what  aid  they  can,  and 
they  can  do  much,  if  they  do  it  in  faith,  to  relieve  their  little 
brother. 

*'  Your  husband  most  truly, 

"S.Cobb." 


*  This  was  in  allusion  to  a  visit  made  to  a  new  physician,  and  for  a  new  method 
of  treatment. 

t  There  follow  here  some  words  touching  that  "  oldest "  child,  coming  from 
the  partiality  and  pride  of  a  father's  heart,  which  the  memoii'ist  could  not 
properly  transcribe  with  his  own  pen. 


454  BEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,   D.D. 

The  diagnosis  of  this  new  physician  was  a  fair  and  plau- 
sible one,  entirely  ignoring  all  symptoms  of  organic  disease 
of  the  heart,  and  referring  the  origin  of  the  difficulty  to  the 
kick  of  the  horse,  which  had  resulted  in  inflammation  and 
ulceration  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  spleen.  And,  further- 
more, as  this  was  in  accordance  with  the  Jiopes  of  the  par- 
ents, of  course  their  faith  was  easily  gained.  Time  passed 
on,  and  the  boy  failed.  Sometimes  he  was  moved  to  please 
his  mother  and  sisters  by  telling  them  that  he  would  like  to 
get  well  and  remain  with  them  on  earth ;  but  oftener  his 
expressed  wish  was  that  he  might  die,  and  be  with  those 
beautiful  angels. 

I  dwell  upon  the  circumstances  connected  with  the  sick- 
ness of  little  Jimm}^  because  they  exerted  a  mighty  influ- 
ence upon  Mr.  Cobb's  mind  ;  and  from  the  da}'  of  the  death 
of  that  boy  his  faith  was  stronger  and  more  firm  than  ever 
before ;  and  the  blessed  promises  of  the  Gospel,  and  the 
sj^stem  of  redemption  therein  laid  down,  came  to  be  more 
of  a  solemn  Fact  than  they  had  been  in  other  times.  Never 
before  had  such  sermons  come  from  his  pen.  After  he  had 
given  that  child  back  to  the  Heavenly  Father  he  preached 
of  heaven  and  heavenly  things  as  one  who  had  seen  and 
felt  them ;  and  he  preached  of  Christ  with  a  power  and  pa- 
thos that  moved  even  sluggish  hearts  to  love  and  adoration 
of  the  Blessed  Eedeemer.  It  was  after  this  cup  had  been 
pressed  to  his  lips  that  the  true  eloquence  of  his  soul  magni- 
fied itself,  and  that  he  talked  of  heaven  as  a  sphere  wherein 
he  had  laid  up  treasure.  It  was  after  the  darling  one  of  his 
cherished  aflfections  had  been  taken  to  the  bosom  of  the  Re- 
deemer that  his  own  heart  broke  away  from  the  bonds  of 
earth,  and  really  reached  with  its  yearning  love  after  that 
Mighty  One  who,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  was  to  gather  all 
thini^s  to  Himself! 


THE   MEMOIR.  455 

The  boy  was  asked  on  several  occasions  to  describe  the 
angels  he  had  seen  in  his  vision ;  but  his  powers  of  lan- 
guage failed  him.  He  said  they  were  clothed  in  white,  but 
it  was  no  such  white  as  we  had  on  earth.  At  his  re- 
quest his  mother  commenced  to  read  to  him  the  New 
Testament  in  course.  One  afternoon  she  read  to  him  the 
seventeenth  chapter  of  Matthew,  wherein  is  an  account  of 
the  Transfiguration.  She  had  read  the  second  verse  when 
Jimmj^  put  forth  his  hand  for  her  to  stop,  and  as  she  gazed 
upon  him  she  found  his  countenance  glowing  with  a  happy 
radiance. 

"  That's  it,  mother,"  he  cried.  "  That's  just  the  way  the 
angels  looked.  You  know  I  couldn't  tell  you  how  white 
their  robes  were,  —  but  that  tells  it  exactly.  Their  faces 
shone  like  the  sun,  and  their  robes  were  as  tuhite  as  the 
lightr 

Cannot  the  reader  catch  the  inspiration  of  the  boy's 
thought  at  that  moment?  The  figure  of  "the  light"  as 
applied  to  a  color  liad  not  before  presented  itself  to  his 
mind  ;  and  j^t  how  simple  and  beautiful  it  was. 

We  cannot  give  an  idea  of  the  closing  scene  better  than 
by  copying  the  following  from  the  pen  of  the  bereaved 
father :  — 

♦'  Tuesday  Morning,  Feb.  24th. 

*'  Though  our  pajier  is  filled,  and  ready  for  the  press  at  early 
morn,  yet  we  must  pen  a  word  for  our  readers  in  this  midnight 
hour,  asking  their  sympathy  in  our  bereavement.  Our  blessed 
bo}',  James  Arthur,  the  youngest  of  our  nine  children,  fell  calmly 
asleep  this  morning,  at  one  o'clock.  Oar  hearts  bleed  for  the 
sundering  of  ties  so  tender  and  so  strong,  but  O  the  blessed  com- 
fort of  gospel  faith,  of  which  this  little  one  was  so  bright  an  ex- 
ample. He  has  long  contemplated,  with  serene  and  pleasant 
emotions,  the  passing  hence  to  the  world  of  painless,  deathless 
life  and  glory.     And  now  his  sufferings  are  over,  and  he  has 


t56  REV.    SYLVAKUS    COUB,    D.D. 

joined  the  angel  band  that  came  weeks  ago  to  greet  and  bid  him 
«\^eleome.     Tlie  God  of  grace  and  comfort  be  with  us.     Amen. 


'*  Our  last  week's  paper  went  to  press  before  the  above  para- 
grapli  reached  our  office,  and  we  let  it  go  to  our  readers  as  it  is 
this  week. 

'*  '  Our  darling'' s  gone.''  Kever  shall  we  forget  this  announce- 
ment, and  the  indescribable  tones  of  resigned  and  affectionate 
pathos,  by  which  we  were  awaked  from  our  slumbers  at  one 
o'clock  last  Tuesday  morning  week.  Two  hours  before,  we  had 
left  our  boy  in  the  care  of  his  eldest  sister  and  her  husband,  and 
retired  for  brief  repose  ;  and  at  one  o'clock  that  sister  glided  to 
our  bed-side,  and  pathetically  exclaimed,  '  Our  darling'' s  gone. 
Father !  Mother !  Our  darling'' s  gone.''  O,  the  indescribable  sen- 
sations produced  by  this  announcement.  Twenty-nine  and  a 
half  years  have  passed  since  we  united  in  the  sacred  ties 
which  made  us  one  for  life,  and  forever,  and  nine  children 
have  been  given  us  to  form  and  bless  our  family  circle,  —  and 
never  before  has  one  of  the  circle  '  gone,'  to  be  with  us  in  the 
body  no  more. 

*'  We  arose  quickly,  and  hastened  to  our  little  charge,  and  in- 
deed he  was  quiet  and  at  rest.  O,  the  bleeding  of  severed  ties, 
and  mingled  thankfulness  to  God.  We  knew  he  could  live  but 
to  suffer.  He  could  see  no  prospect  of  living  but  to  suffer.  And 
he  wished  to  go  and  be  at  rest.  That  night  he  had  said  to  his 
watching  sister,  '  Haley,  I  wish  I  could  die  ;  —  when  can  I  die  ? ' 
And  his  wish  was  granted  in  a  most  beautiful  manner.  He  had 
called  for  water,  and  on  its  being  given  him,  he  energetically 
pronounced  it  good.  '  Now,'  said  he,  *  fix  my  pillow.'  She  fixed 
his  pillow,  and  he  reclined  his  head  upon  it,  saying,  '  That  is 
nice.'  Immediately  his  sister,  standing  over  him,  saw  his  head 
drop  slightly  forward  (for  he  was  bolstered  up  in  a  sitting  pos- 
ture), and  she  looked,  and  saw  that  his  spirit  had  gone.  Not  a 
struggle  nor  a  gasp  accompanied  or  followed  its  departure.  That 
heaven-visited  and  angel-welcomed  spirit  was  prepared  to  pass 
gently  out  from  its  earthly  tenement,  without  another  jar  to  a 
cord  or  muscle  of  that  tenement.  And  the  angelic  band  who 
had  held  intercourse  with  him,  and  whose  converse  he  ever  after 
continued  to  contemplate  with  sweetest  pleasure,  were  the  asso- 


THE   MEMOIR.  457 

ciates  and  convoy  of  that  freed  spirit,  according  to  their  promise. 
O  God,  we  thank  thee.  Thy  hand,  in  this  providence,  has  not 
sunk  us  deeper  down,  but  it  has  raised  us  nearer  to  heaven.  O 
God,  we  thank  thee  for  thy  grace,  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord." 

A  post-mortem  examination  revealed  that  our  reliable  and 
trustworthy  physicians  of  East  Boston  had  been  correct  in 
their  diagnosis.  The  heart  was  found  to  be  fully  twice  its 
normal  size,  and  a  large  amount  of  water  had  gathered  in 
its  membranous  sac. 

Fathers  Ballou  and  Streeter  attended  the  funeral,  and 
rendered  assistance  to  the  pastor  of  the  East  Boston  Soci- 
ety. Almost  twenty-nine  years  before  Father  Ballou  had 
taken  into  his  hands  and  dedicated  to  God  Mr.  Cobb's  first- 
born, and  now  he  came  to  assist  at  the  funeral  of  the  last- 
born.  The  reader  need  not  be  told  of  that  funeral.  There 
were  no  outer  badges  of  mourning,  —  nothing  of  form  or 
ceremony  or  symbolism  to  tell  of  sadness  and  gloom.  The 
hearts  of  the  bereaved  family  were  all  lifted  towards  heaven, 
and  I,  for  one,  can  truly  say  that  the  occasion  was  a  holy 
and  a  blessed  one. 

Almost  a  year  passed  away,  and  Mr.  Cobb  was  again 
called  to  part  with  a  beloved  child.  This  time  his  youngest 
daughter  was  taken  from  him,  Sarah  Wait.  She  was  a 
precious  child ;  and  God  knows  that  a  more  fond  and  de- 
voted sister  never  lived.  .Her  disease  was  pulmonary  con- 
sumption, and  she  lingered  long,  and  suffered  much. 

Here  is  another  letter  from  that  great-hearted  father, 
written  when  the  fair  blossom,  just  bursting  into  woman- 
hood, had  withered  and  drooped  until  only  a  seeming 
miracle  could  have  restored  its  bloom  and  freshness  of 
earthly  beauty :  — 
39 


458  REV.    SYLVANUS    C0J3n,    n.D. 

*♦  MiLFOiiD,  Jan.  2,  1853. 
*'My  dear  Wife, — 

"  It  is  Sunday  evening,  and  I  alone  of  all  in  this  house  am  up 
and  awake.  In  body  I  am  here,  but  in  mind  and  heart  I  am  at 
home.  O  !  that  blessed  daughter  !  How  I  pray  that  she  may  be 
restored !  How  much  I  had  calculated  upon  in  her,  to  cheer 
and  bless  us  along  in  the  evening  of  our  days,  and  to  do  good  in 
society.  But  O  !  what  a  blessing  it  is  that  she  is  resigned  and 
happy !  that  while  she  would  desire  to  live  for  our  sakes,  and 
for  the  sake  of  her  beloved ;  yet,  if  it  is  the  good  Father's  will, 
she  is  willing  to  go  and  join  company  with  the  blessed  Jimmy. 
But  Jimmy,  with  his  glorious  company,  will  be  willing  to  wait, 
if  the  Father  wills  that  she  should  stop  with  us  and  her  friends 
yet  many  years  upon  the  earth.     May  it  not  be  so  ? 

*'  I  know  that,  as  it  respects  herself,  if  she  lives  to  rear  up  a 
family,  and  perhaps  to  suffer  trials  and  disappointments  on  the 
way,  when  at  length  she  is  called  from  earth,  she  might  be 
standing  in  relations  and  responsibilities  which  would  render  it 
harder  than  it  is  now.  The  views  she  has  exjDressed  to  you  on 
the  subject  are  very  beautiful,  and  a  worthy  example  to  us  all. 
She  has  a  mind  to  be  useful  if  she  is  restored  to  health ;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  to  go  pleasantly  to  the  higher  field  of  labor  and 
enjoyment  if  God  calls  her  away.  This  is  the  true  frame  of 
mind  for  us  all.  We  who  are  now  in  health  know  not  what  shall 
be  on  the  morrow.  We  cannot  be  truly  and  understandingly 
happy  at  any  time  but  in  the  spirit  of  that  precious  daughter, 
whom  we  love  so  tenderly,  feeling  to  be  in  the  hand  of  God, 
who  is  love,  and  who  Avill  be  the  same  kind  Friend  to-morrow, 
whether  we  are  in  his  care  here,  or  in  the  heavenly  land.  May 
God  bless  her  with  this  glorious  faith  evermore !  Yes  —  he 
WILL  bless  her !  I  have  never  kno\Vn  a  child  of  her  pure  mind 
and  Christian  trust,  whom  the  blessed  Father's  love  has  not  ac- 
companied, making  all  to  be  light  and  life,  through  to  the  life 
which  never  ends. 

•'I  think  much  of  you,  my  dear  wife,  and  of  your  important 
position.  O!  your  countenance  is  the  very  light  of  heavenly 
love  to  that  sweet,  suffering  child.  God  will  bless  you  !  Your 
husband  and  your  children  will  bless  you  !  And  then  that  faith- 
ful, loving  sister,  Haley.     How  is  dear  Sarah  blessed,  how  are 


THE   MEMOIR.  459 

we  all  blessed,  in  her !  And  the  affectionate  brothers  !  I  think 
you  all  over ;  I  carry  you  in  my  heart ;  and  I  pray  for  you  in 
faith.  ******* 

"  Good  night,  dear  wife,  blessed  Sarah,  and  all.     God  guard 
and  protect  you ! 

"Yours  ever, 

*«S.  Cobb." 


When  it  became  evident  to  the  failing  child  that  she 
must  die,  she  said  she  had  but  one  request  to  make  of  her 
Heavenly  Father  beyond  what  her  faith  led  her  to  believe 
he  would  do  for  her  ;  and  that  was,  that  her  mother  might 
be  with  her  when  she  passed  away,  and  that  she  might  die 
as  Jimmy  died.  And  her  prayer  was  answered.  On  the 
morning  of  January  17th,  shortly  before  the  breaking  of 
day,  her  mother  sat  by  her  bedside,  and,  by  request,  sang 
to  her  the  good  old  tune  of  Old  Hundred.  She  loved  to 
have  her  friends  sing  to  her.  She  preferred  singing  to 
reading.  A  few  minutes  past  six  o'clock  she  requested  her 
mother  to  lift  her  over  upon  her  left  side  so  that  she  might 
go  to  sleep.  Tenderly  the  fond  parent  placed  her  in  the 
required  position,  and  then  she  placed  her  arm  ai-ound  her 
mother's  neck,  and  looking  up  with  a  sweet  smile,  she 
said,  —  "That's  right!"  Then  she  reached  farther  out 
with  her  arm,  and  drew  the  face  of  the  tireless  watcher 
down  until  their  cheeks  touched ;  and  then,  clearly  and 
distinctly,  though  in  a  tone  scarcely  raised  above  a  whis- 
per, she  said, — 

"  Sing  to  me,  mothek." 

And  while  the  musical  throbbing  of  her  voice  still 
vibrated  upon  the  morning  air  she  sank  into  quiet,  peaceful 
slumber ! 

And  so  her  prayer  had  been  answered.  Smiling  in 
gratitude  for  the  last  kind  office  of  a  watching  loved  one, 


4G0  nEV.    SYLFAXUS     COBB,    D.D. 

and  upon  the  bosom  of  her  own  idolized  mother,  she  had 
passed  from  death  unto  life. 

What  was  there  of  d3dng  there?  She  had  been  dying 
for  long  and  weary  weeks.  But  this  was  the  glorious 
bursting  of  the  bonds  of  death,  and  the  soaring  forth  of 
the  sweet  spirit  into  the  realms  of  immortal  purity  and 
bliss ! 


THE  MEMOIR,  461 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Review  of  Beecher's  "  Conflict  of  Ages,"  —  Discussion 
WITH  Dr.  Adams,  —  Discussion  with  Hudson,  —  Re- 
flections ON  Human  Destiny,  —  Commentary  on  the 
New  Testament,  —  The  Crown  of  Life. 

The  chief  labor  of  the  year  1853  which  engaged  Mr. 
Cobb's  pen  was  his  "  Review  of  the  '  Conflict  of  Ages,' 
By  Edward  Beecher,  D.D.'"  There  had  been  no  book 
given  to  the  public  for  years  that  had  created  so  pro- 
found an  excitement  in  religious  circles,  and  especially  in 
the  Calvinistic  school,  as  was  created  by  this  book  of 
Dr.  Beecher.  The  "Conflict"  of  which  he  speaks  exists 
between  man's  intuitive  perception  and  judgment  of  the 
principles  of  honor  and  right  in  God,  and  the  doctrine  of 
the  eternal  pain  and  torture  which  is  to  be  meted  out  to  so 
many  human  souls.  For  a  reconciliation  of  this  conflict 
of  ages  Mr.  Beecher  presents  the  hypothesis  of  a  pre- 
existence  of  our  race.  He  supposes  that  all  men  had  an 
existence  prior  to  their  birth  into  this  world,  in  a  spiritual 
or  angelic  state,  where  they  had  powers  and  fair  opportu- 
nities to  secure  to  themselves  eternal  holiness  and  good ; 
but  sinned  there,  and  forfeited  their  claim  on  the  principles . 
of  honor  and  right  in  God.  Then  God  created  this  world  ; 
and  he  successively  sends  these  fallen  spirits,  or  Satan's 
angels,  into  new-born  animal  bodies,  designing  out  of  the 
mass  to  redeem  a  church.  But  men  have  no  reason  to 
39 


462  liEF.    SYLVANUS    COBB,   D.D. 

complain  of  God  for  bringing  them  into  this  world  with 
depraved  and  sinful  natures,  binding  them  to  the  necessity 
of  sinning  and  suffering  here,  and  eternally  also,  if  he 
should  not  change  them  while  here  by  his  sovereign  grace, 
since  this  sinful  depravity  is  what  we  acquired  unto  our- 
selves in  a  previous  spiritual  existence. 

Mr.  Cobb  gave  this  work  a  candid  and  critical  review  in 
the  columns  of  his  paper,  in  the  course  of  which  he  labored 
not  only  to  show  how  fatally  Mr.  Beecher  had  stabbed 
Orthodoxy  in  his  conflict  of  ages,  and  how  far  short  of  the 
real  wants  of  the  human  family  his  reconciliation  came, 
but  he  also  tried  to  present  a  system  of  reconciliation 
which  would  forever  remove  the  whole  diflSculty.  And 
here  we  have  the  closing  paragraph  of  his  Review,  which 
plainly  shows  what  he  has  been  trying  to  impress  upon  the 
worthy  Doctor's  mind  :  — 

"  UNIYERSALISM,  then,  is  the  true  system  of  RECONCIL- 
IATION. It  is  the  highway  of  the  Lord,  where  every  mountain 
is  brought  low,  and  every  valley  is  exalted ;  and  the  crooked 
made  straight,  and  the  rough  places  smooth ;  and  the  wayfaring 
man,  though  simple,  may  not  err  therein.  It  spreads  out 
before  you,  as  a^  field  of  labor,  the  world  of  facts  as  they  are ; 
and  it  sets  you  at  work  with  a  clear  view  of  the  affinity  between 
your  Christian  labors  and  the  effects  you  aim  at.  It  presents 
you  with  a  system  of  the  creation,  and  providence,  and  purpose, 
and  government,  and  judgment  of  God,  the  Father  of  all,  har- 
monious with  the  principles  of  honor  and  right  in  the  Creator, 
and  with  the  judgment  of  these  principles  in  the  human  soul. 
It  creates  a  faith  and  inspires  a  hope,  which  clearly  see  in  pros- 
pect that  harmonization  of  all  created  spirits  with  the  Eternal, 
from  which  shall  flow  forth  the  melodious  voice  of  praise  from 
the  Universal  whole,  *  we  thank  thee,  and  adore  thee.  Lord  God 
Almighty,  that  thou  hast  so  exerted,  and  doest,  and  wilt,  so  exert 
thine  infinite  powers,  and  so  oi^der  thine  infinite  example^  as  shall 
most  entirely  tend  to  our  eternal  good.''    AMEN." 


THE  MEMOIR,  463 

Mr.  Cobb's  Review  was  highly  esteemed  by  his  friends, 
and  the  requests  for  its  republication  in  book  form  were  so 
numerous  that  he  acceded  thereto.  Among  the  many  com- 
mendatory articles  from  ministering  brethren,  I  subjoin  the 
following :  — 

"  Br.  Cobb,  —  I  want  to  express  to  you  my  very  hearty 
approval  of  your  '  Review '  of  Dr.  Beecher's  late  work.  It  is 
admired  in  this  region,  by  your  patrons  and  others  who  have 
been  induced  to  read  it. 

"It  has  been  well  done  so  far.  I  have  heard  but  one  opinion 
of  it.  I  hope  it  will  appear  in  book  form,  and  be  extensively 
and  carefully  read.  Let  all  our  friends  take  hold  and  interest 
themselves  in  giving  it  the  circulation  which  it  so  richly  de- 
serves. 

"  H.  Jewell. 

'*  Stoneham,  Dec,  1853." 

"Concord,  N.  H.,  Dec.  9th,  1853. 
"Br.  Cobb,  — What  I  may  say  in  regard  to  your  publishing 
in  book  form  your  Review  of  the  *  Conflict  of  Ages,'  may  not 
make  one  hair  white  or  black,  but  I  hope  you  will  by  all  means 
publish  that  Review,  —  do  it  in  a  cheap  form  so  that  the  million 
may  read  it.  Let  us  have  one  book  advocating  heaven's  truth 
for  the  sake  of  the  truth,  and  not  so  much  for  the  sake  of  the 
profit  —  and  in  fact,  this  is  the  most  successful  method  by  which 
to  make  the  profit  in  the  end,  in  these  times  of  large  sales  and 
small  profits;  but  of  this  you  are  the  better  judge.  By  all 
means,  I  repeat,  give  us  the  book. 

"Yours  truly, 

*<  John  Moore." 

Another  ministering  brother  says,  — 

"  The  brethren  you  publish  as  being  so  highly  pleased  with 
your  Review  of  Dr.  Beecher,  express,  probably,  the  sentiment 
of  all  your  readers.  I  hear  but  one  expression  about  it,  — 
everybody  says,  Br.  Cobb  has  handled  the  discussion  ably, 
interestingly,  and  triumphantly.  Let  the  Review  be  published ; 
it  will  make  a  fresh  and  valuable  work." 


464  llEV.    STLVANUS    COBB^    D.D. 

The  book  was  published,  and  met  with  quite  an  extensive 
sale ;  and  I  think  the  desire  of  Br.  Moore  was  complied 
with  so  far  as  publication  for  sake  of  "  profit "  was  con- 
cerned. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1858,  and  the  first 
part  of  1859,  Mr.  Cobb  held  his  celebrated  discussion  with 
Rev.  Nehemiah  Adams,  D.D.  I  call  it  a  ''^celebrated" 
discussion  because  Dr.  Adams  was  not  only  an  acknowl- 
edged champion  of  Orthodoxj^,  but  also  a  noted  man  in 
other  respects  ;  and  because  the  discussion  at  the  time  was 
regarded  with  the  most  profound  interest  by  all  classes  of 
New  England  theologians.  The  following,  from  the  Chris- 
tian Freeman  of  Dec.  10,  1858,  gives  the  origin  of  the 
discussion :  — 

"In  the  month  of  May,  1858,  Dr.  Adams  published  a  discourse 
in  advocacy  of  the  '  Reasonableness  of  Future  Endless  Punish- 
ment.' This  discourse  we  reviewed  in  the  columns  of  the 
Christian  Freeman ;  and  at  the  close  of  the  Review  we  addressed 
to  the  author  of  the  sermon  the  following 

"NOTE. 

'♦ '  To  Rev.  Dr.  Adams  : 

"  '  Dear  Sir,  —  In  your  Sermon,  to  the  review  of  which  I  have 
devoted  some  labor  as  above,  and  in  last  week's  Christian  Free- 
man, though  you  propose  to  treat  the  reasonableness  of  future 
endless  punishment,  yet  you  are  perpetually  falling  back  on  the 
assumption  that  it  is  true,  and  is  asserted  by  the  Scrij^tures  ;  and 
your  argument  for  its  reasonableness  is  but  little  else  than  an 
assumption  based  on  the  former  assumption,  to  wit,  that  it  must 
be  reasonable,  because  in  God's  economy  it  is  true. 

*'*And  now,  I  respectfully  invite  you,  and  proffer  you  the 
columns  of  the  Christian  Freeman  for  the  work,  to  show  the 
Scripturalness  of  future  endless  punishment.  And  to  avoid 
losing  the  subject  in  a  wilderness  of  verbiage,  and  in  running 
quotations  of  fragmentary  Scripture  passages,  I  propose  that 
you  select  the  first  passage  which,  in  your  judgment,  clearly 


THE   MEMOIR,  465 

announces  this  doctrine ;  or,  if  it  has  crept  into  the  Bible  so 
gi-adually  and  imperceptibly  that  you  cannot  put  your  finger 
u]3on  its  beginning,  select  what  you  regard  as  one  of  the  most 
clear  and  unquestionable  declarations  of  it,  and  show  from  the 
subject  of  discourse,  the  natural  force  of  the  language,  and  the 
Scriptural  usus  loquendi,  that  it  teaches  such  doctrine.  And  we 
will  thoroughly  discuss  that  passage  before  entering  upon 
another.  This  will  aflford  you  an  opportunity  to  carry  your 
strongest  reasons  into  several  thousands  of  Universalist  families ; 
and  I  earnestly  hope  you  will  accept  my  proposition. 
**  *  Yours  most  truly, 

" '  S.  Cobb.' 

•*  On  the  morning  of  July  6th  we  received  the  following 
from 

DR.  ADAMS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

*"BosTON,  July6,  1858. 
*'  'Rev.  S.  Cobb,  Editor  of  the  Christian  Freeman. 

"'Dear  Sir,  —  I  have  received  your  printed  note  in  your 
paper  of  the  2d  inst.,  in  which  you  say:  "  And  now,  I  respect- 
fully invite  you,  and  projffer  you  the  columns  of  the  Christian 
Freeman  for  the  work,  to  show  the  Scripturalness  of  future  end- 
less punishment.  This  will  aflford  you  an  opportunity  to  cany 
your  strongest  reasons  into  several  thousands  of  Universalist 
families ;  and  I  earnestly  hope  that  you  will  accept  my  proj)osi- 
tion." 

"  *  The  form  in  which  you  propose  that  I  should  do  this,  viz., 
by  an  exposition  of  isolated  proof  texts,  each  to  be  debated  by 
you  before  I  proceed  to  another,  does  not  strike  me  favorably. 
I  will  comply  with  your  invitation  if  you  will  allow  me  to  do  it 
in  my  own  way, — upon  one  condition,  that  there  shall  be  no 
notes  or  comments  on  what  I  wiite,  in  the  number  or  numbers 
of  your  paper  containing  my  communication. 

'*  'Very  respectfully  yours, 

"  '  N.  Adams.' 

"  Several  notes  in  direct  succession  were  subsequently  inter- 
changed between  us,  of  which  we  give  the  following  extract, 
which  is  from  our  second  to  the  Doctor :  — 


466  BEF.    SYLVANUS    COBD,    D.I). 

'"Boston,  July  6,  1858. 
*"Rev.  N.  Adams,  D.D. 

"  '  Your  note  of  this  morning  is  received.  We  can  undoubtedly 
come  to  an  agreement  in  respect  to  the  manner  of  conducting 
the  proposed  discussion.  My  reasons  for  the  method  I  proposed 
will  undoubtedly  commend  themselves  to  your  good  judgment 
on  your  duly  considering  them.  I  have  observed  that  the  advo- 
cates of  endless  punishment  in  controversial  encounters  with 
IJniversalists,  usually  fill  their  space  with  a  long  string  of  pro- 
miscuous quotations  from  the  Bible,  throwing  together  frag- 
mentary texts  regardless  of  the  connections  from  which  they 
are  taken,  presenting  no  argument  for  their  use  of  the  passages 
collected,  but  relying  on  the  sound  of  certain  phraseology  upon 
the  ear  of  popular  prejudice.  Then,  when  the  Universalist  fol- 
lows with  his  reply,  he  must  employ  argument  on  each  passage 
he  deems  misused,  and  would  be  obliged  to  fill  a  volume  to  get 
through  thus  with  the  catalogue  of  texts  which  the  other  hastily 
huddled  together.  You  see  the  unfairness  and  unprofitableness 
of  this  course.  If  you  and  I  enter  into  this  discussion,  it  will  be 
with  reverence  for  God's  word,  and  a  sincere  desire  to  promote 
an  understanding  of  it  among  our  readers.  And  the  method 
which  I  propose  is  just  as  fair  for  you  as  it  is  for  me.  It  is,  in 
its  main  features,  the  only  method  by  which  you  can  do  the 
work  which  you  must  do  in  order  to  make  the  discussion  of  any 
manner  of  use  to  the  community. 

♦' '  You  object  to  my  plan,  requiring  an  *'  exposition  of  isolated 
proof  texts,  each  to  be  debated  by  me  before  you  proceed  to 
another."  In  truth  my  plan  no  more  requires  you  to  explain 
isolated  proof  texts,  than  any  other  plan  you  might  propose. 
Your  sending  to  me  a  collection  of  Scripture  passages  unex- 
plained, and  my  printing  them  in  the  Christian  Freeman,  would 
be  of  no  service.  You  will  agree  with  me  that  you  are  to  give 
your  reasons  for  your  use  of  Scripture  texts,  and  your  reasons 
on  the  texts  one  by  one.  And  the  method  proposed  by  me 
allows,  and  even  requires  you,  when  you  have  selected  your 
supposed  decisive  proof  text,  to  make  such  quotations  and  use 
of  other  and  collateral  texts  as  you  may  judge  expedient,  in 
order  to  sustain  your  use  of  the  leading  proof  text.  My  object 
is,  not  to  run  a  gauntlet,  but  to  discuss  these  matters  wherein 


THE   MEMOIR.  467 

we  differ,  rationally,  and,  as  Professor  Stuart  would  say,  "philo- 
logically  and  exegetically."    *    *     *    * 

'* '  Yours  most  truly, 

"'S.Cobb.' 

*•  Finally,  we  acceded  to  the  method  proposed  by  Dr.  Adams, 
providing  that  he  should  do  his  complete  work  in  argument  for 
future  endless  punishment  in  one  long  article.  And  we  now 
regard  this  as  the  best  method.  It  brings  his  whole  argument 
in  one  continuous  and  connected  work,  under  seven  important 
classifications,  thus  giving  us  at  once  the  best  thing  that  can  be 
done  for  the  doctrine  in  question.  If  this  fails,  the  doctrine  can- 
not be  sustained. 

'*  It  will  be  seen  by  the  extract  of  our  second  note  to  the  Doc- 
tor, that  we  were  particularly  solicitous  that  he  should  show 
reasons  for  whatever  applications  he  might  make  of  Scripture 
texts  to  his  espoused  position.  If  it  shall  be  found  on  review 
that  he  has  not  done  this,  we  are  sure  that  it  is  not  his  fault,  but 
the  difficulty  is  in  the  nature  of  the  case.  We  regard  the  Argu- 
ment for  Future  Endless  Punishment  as  able  as  any  that  we  have 
seen,  and  we  do  not  believe  a  better  can  ever  be  produced.  And 
the  excellent  spirit  in  which  the  work  is  conducted  is  signally 
creditable  to  the  author.  We  commend  the  whole,  '  Argu- 
ment' and  '  Review,'  to  the  candid  and  prayerful  perusal  of  the 
lovers  of  truth,  in  hope  that,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  it  will  con- 
duce to  the  honor  of  His  declarative  glory,  and  the  spiritual 
interests  of  many  people." 

In  entering  upon  this  work  Mr*  Cobb  did  not  commit  the 
error  of  under-estimating  bis  opponent.  He  realized  that 
he  had  one  of  the  "  great  guns  "  of  Orthodoxy  levelled 
against  him,  and  he  marshalled  his  own  forces  carefully 
and  surely.  But  there  was  little  of  strategy  in  his  method 
of  condacting  argument.  What  of  strategy  he  used  was 
simply  in  turning  the  arguments  of  his  opponent  back 
upon  himself,  —  and  this  he  found  frequent  opportunity  to 
do ;  but  his  main  dependence  in  argument  was  upon  the 
overwhelming  force  of  Right.     In  all  matters  touching  the 


468  liEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

character  and  purposes  of  God  and  Jesus  Christ  he  felt 
that  he  had  the  whole  mass  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  — 
every  book,  chapter,  verse,  and  line  —  upon  his  side  ;  and 
with  this  force  held  readily  at  hand,  every  section  of  it  be- 
ing understood  by  him,  what  earthly  power  could  prevail 
against  him.  So  felt  the  man  when  he  took  up  arms 
against  those  who  would  limit  God's  power  and  goodness. 
I  will  not  take  up  space  here  with  the  flattering  notices 
of  commendation  with  which  the  work  was  received  by  Mr. 
Cobb's  friends.  I  have  a  large  number  of  them  at  hand, 
and  I  can  sum  up  their  substance  in  a  very  few  words. 
When  the  discussion  was  about  to  commence  the  expression 
of  opinion,  publicly  made  by  the  ministering  brethren  was, 
that  the  work  was  in  able  hands.  All  knew  that  Dr.  Adams 
was  a  powerful  reasoner,  and  a  profound  scholar,  and  they 
all  felt  that  Mr.  Cobb  was  just  the  man  on  their  side  to 
meet  him.  And  when  the  work  had  been  done  they  were 
not  disappointed.     Writes  one  of  our  best  preachers,  — 

"The  Adams'  and  Cobb's  Discussion,  I  carefully  read  as  it 
appeared  in  the  Freeman.  The  argument  for  Endless  Misery  is 
so  framed  as  to  enter  into  the  broad  field  of  controversy  on  the 
subject,  and  your  reply  meets  the  Endless-Miserian  Advocate  at 
ever}'^  point,  and  is  perfectly  overwhelming.  It  cannot  fail  to 
satisfy  all  who  understandiugly  agree  with  you  in  relation  to  the 
great  salvation.     I  want  tha't  discussion  as  a  book  of  reference." 

And  of  all  the  words  received  by  the  publisher  touching 
the  merits  of  his  argument  for  the  "  Final  Holiness  and 
Happiness  of  all  God's  children,"  this  may  be  taken  as  a 
sample. 

The  discussion  was  published  in  book  form,  and  was  a 
valuable  addition  to  the  Universalist  library.  The  Liberal 
Christian,  who  has  occasion  to  meet  in  argument  the  oppo- 
sers  of  his  faith  in  the  Will  of  God  to  save  through  Christ, 


THE   MEMOIR.  469 

and  in  the  power  of  Christ  to  do  the  will  of  Him  who  sent 
him,  will  find  in  this  book  a  useful  and  convenient  aid. 
Mr.  Cobb  himself  truly  saj^s  of  it :  — 

"  This  Discussion  is  not  a  matter  of  mere  transient  interest. 
In  suj)port  of  Endless  Punishment,  it  contains  what  able  men 
who  were  educated  in  that  doctrine  pronounce  as  strong  an  ar- 
gument as  ever  has  been  or  as  can  be  produced,  and  that  by  one 
of  the  most  talented  of  Orthodox  divines.  In  our  Reply  we  have 
not  been  satisfied  merely  to  show  that  our  opponent  has  not  sus- 
tained his  cause,  but  have  labored  extensively  to  bring  out  the 
true  and  harmonious  teachings  of  the  Scriptures  on  the  impor- 
tant topics  introduced  by  him,  so  as  to  make  the  book  a  general 
Biblical  Expositor  in  relation  to  the  great  subject  in  controvers3\ 
It  will  be  adapted  to  the  wants  of  mind  in  all  time." 

Even  while  this  discussion  with  Dr.  Adams  was  in  prog- 
ress Mr.  Cobb  was  making  arrangements  for  another  of 
equal  magnitude,  both  in  labor  and  in  importance.  I  allude 
to  his  Discussion  with  Rev.  C.  F.  Hudson  upon  the  subject 
of  "  Human  Destiny."  As  the  work  is  before  the  world 
there  is  no  need  that  I  should  occupy  space  here  in  an 
extended  explanation  of  its  character.  Mr.  Hudson,  in 
avoiding  the  theory  of  future  endless  punishment,  sets  up, 
and  labors  to  defend,  the  doctrine  of  the  Total  Annihilation 
of  the  wicked.  Mr.  Cobb's  first  important  proposition  bears 
a  wondrous  weight  of  meaning  in  a  very  few  words  :  — 

**  In  our  opinion  Destructionism  is  a  reaction  of  revulsion  from 
Orthodoxy,  and  not  a  positive  principle,  or  a  result  of  positive 
principles,  attained  to  by  a  de-novo  study  of  philosophy  or  Scrip- 
ture. It  appears  to .  us,  we  say  it  with  respect,  that  men  do  not 
walk  into  it,  —  but  they  back  into  it  from  the  repulsive  force  of 
the  theory  of  endless  punishment." 

This  belief  in  the  total  annihilation  of  the  "  finally  im- 
penitent "  is  more  extensive  than  is  generally  supposed  by 
40 


470  nEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

those  who  have  had  no  opportunity  for  investigating  the 
subject.  Our  Second  Advent  friends,  in  embracing  the 
faith  that  the  wicked  will  be  burned  up  and  utterly  de- 
stroj'cd,  have  ^'-hacked  down''  from  the  horrible  imputations 
upon  the  Divine  character  of  that  other  faith  which  repre- 
sents God  as  giving  over  a  large  part  of  the  children  he 
has  created  to  the  devil,  to  be  tortured  and  abused  through- 
out the  unceasing  ages  of  eternity.  O,  my  soul !  how  can 
a  sentient  being,  possessing  the  loves  and  affections  of  hu- 
manity, with  a  beloved  and  idolized  family  gathered  about 
him,  —  with  fondly  cherished  children,  that  have  the  fail- 
ings and  weaknesses  to  which  flesh  is  heir,  and  that  some- 
times need  correction  for  their  good,  —  how  can  a  tender 
mother,  whose  heart  goes  forth  in  yearning  after  her  way- 
ward boy  —  the  boy  who  has  given  her  most  pain  and  an- 
guish, and  yet  whom  she  loves  with  all  the  strength  of  a 
mother's  heart,  —  how  can  such,  in  view  of  the  frailty  of 
poor  humanity,  calmly  ascribe  to  the  Great  Father  of  all, 
whose  name  is  Love,  the  will  and  determination  to  eternally 
damn  the  wayward  and  wandering  of  his  own  offspring  ? 
You  cannot  smooth  it  over.  That  is  what  the  creed  means, 
exactly.  The  Prince  of  Darkness  is  to  so  far  see  of  the 
travail  of  his  soul  as  to  finally  gather  to  himself  a  large 
portion  of  the  human  family,  to  be  his  to  torment  and  to 
torture  forever !  And  now  what  did  the  old  Prophet  Isaiah 
mean  when  he  declared  that  the  Prince  of  Light  and  Peace 
should  see  of  the  travail  of  Ids  soul,  and  be  satisfied? 
Pardon  me,  dear  reader,  for  this  digression.  I  think  we  can 
see  that  the  doctrine  of  annihilation  must  be  a  great  relief 
to  the  aforetime  believer  in  Endless  Misery,  and  we  cannot 
wonder  that  so  man}^  embrace  it. 

The  words  of  encouragement  from  various  quarters  which 
the  editor  received  while  engaged  in  this  work  were  all  of 


THE   MEMOIR,  All 

one  character.  It  was  hailed  as  a  valuable  contribution  to 
our  denominational  literature,  and  the  ministering  brethren 
demanded  that  it  should  be  published  in  book  form  as  a 
work  of  reference. 

While  we  are  upon  the  subject  of  Mr.  Cobb's  published 
works  we  will  follow  it  to  the  end,  leaving  other  matters  of 
interest,  which  transpired  meanwhile,  to  be  taken  up  after- 
wards. 

The  last,  and  the  crowning  work  of  Mr.  Cobb's  long  and 
laborious  life,  was  his  Commentary  upon  the  Neio  Testa- 
ment^ which  he  denominated  "  The  New  Testament  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  with  Explanatory  Notes 
AND  Practical  Observations."  In  setting  forth  the  plan 
of  the  work  he  says  :  — 

**  The  author  of  these  Explanatory  Notes  and  Practical 
Observations  has  seen  for  many  years  the  want  of  a  book  of 
this  kind,  comprising  the  New  Testament  and  Exegetical  Anno- 
tations, complete  in  one  volume,  in  the  interests  of  his  cause 
in  whom  it  pleased  the  Father  that  all  fulness  should  dwell. 
It  was  to  supply  such  a  want  that  I  undertook  this  labor.  I  have 
found  it  a  greater  labor  than  I  anticipated  in  the  outset.  But 
God  has  supported  me  ;  has  made  it  my  privilege  to  enjoy  a 
thrilling  interest  throughout,  in  its  performance  ;  and  has  brought 
me  to  its  close  in  perfect  health,  and  with  even  a  raised  estimate 
of  the  Book  of  books.  I  think  the  notes  will  be  found  sufficiently 
full,  in  all  essential  particulars,  to  serve  the  wants  of  inquirers 
for  the  sense  of  the  Record.  They  could  not  have  been  much 
extended  without  exceeding  the  limits  of  one  volume,  and  thus 
defeating  the  primary  purpose  of  the  undertaking,^ — the  pro- 
vision of  a  single  hand-book  of  the  New  Testament/' 

The  first  chapter  of  the  work  was  written  on  Friday,  the 
15th  of  May,  1863,  at  the  very  desk  where  I  am  now  writ- 
ing, the  commentator  being  at  that  time  on  a  visit  to  his 
friends  in  this  town  of  Norway ;  and  from  that  time  he 


472  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

wrote  steadily  and  industriously  for  about  thirteen  months. 
Of  course  he  had  at  hand  much  material  which  had  been 
gathering  during  his  long  years  of  theological  research  and 
investigation ;  but  it  had  to  be  all  worked  over  and  remod- 
elled for  the  use  he  would  now  make  of  it.  During  the 
succeeding  November  I  spent  a  week  at  the  "  Castle  "  in 
East  Boston,  and  I  saw  him  at  his  work.  While  I  was  be- 
neath his  roof  he  seemed  to  have  but  one  thought  —  but  one 
purpose,  —  and  he  wanted  no  one  to  interrupt  him.  Early 
in  the  morning,  and  late  at  night,  he  was  at  his  desk,  with 
his  Bible  and  his  manuscript.  The  Bible  was  one  he  had 
used  almost  half  a  century,  and  he  told  me  at  that  time  that 
during  all  the  j^ears  of  his  sermonizing  he  never  but  once 
found  a  text  for  a  sermon  in  any  other  copy  of  the  sacred 
book.  That  once  was  when  he  was  away  on  a  tour,  and 
had  occasion  to  improvise  a  sermon  for  a  special  occasion. 
That  old  Bible  and  his  fast-growing  manuscript  were  the 
only  companions  whose  company  could  hold  him.  He  used 
few  books  of  reference,  for  there  was  hardly  a  biblical  ref- 
erence wanted  that  had  not,  during  the  eight-and-forty  years 
of  constant  use,  been  jotted  down  upon  the  margins  of  his 
Bible.  However,  he  referred  to  other  authors  when  he  had 
need,  and  no  single  point  was  left  unfinished  for  want  of  a 
reference  that  was  to  be  found  in  the  country. 

He  found  the  labor  far  greater  than  he  had  anticipated, 
but  he  assures  us  that  God  had  "brought  him  to  its  close 
in  perfect  health."  A  blessed  thing  for  him  was  that 
faith.  I  wish  I  had  at  hand  a  letter  which  I  received  from 
one  of  my  brothers,  written  during  our  father's  severe 
labors.  My  brother  possesses  keen  perception,  and  his 
eyes  and  understanding  did  not  deceive  him.  But  the 
letter  is  lost.  It  told  me  that  my  father  was  failing  — 
that  the  large  eyes  were  falling  back  into  their  orbits  — 


THE    MEMOIR.  *  473 

that  the  heavy  lines  of  care  upon  his  brow,  and  about  his 
lips  and  cheeks,  were  growing  heavier  and  deeper  —  that 
the  invokmtary  shaking  of  the  head,  and  the  stiffening  of 
the  step,  betrayed  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  nervous  system, 
—  while  the  perceptible  stooping  of  the  whole  frame  told 
that  the  wondrous  machine  was  breaking  up.  And  j^et  he 
thought  he  had  come  through  it  all  in  perfect  health. 

Allow  me  to  quote  in  this  connection  a  few  lines  from  a 
letter  which  will  be  given  in  full  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 
It  is  from  Br.  A.  St.  John  Chambre,  who  was  a  member 
of  the  family  during  most  of  the  time  that  Mr.  Cobb  was 
at  work  upon  the  Commentary.     Br.  Chambre  writes,  — 

"In  the  year  1863-4,  which  I  spent  in  his  house,  he  was 
engaged  in  his  last  and  best  work,  the  Commentary  on  the  New 
Testament.  Day  after  day,  and  far  into  the  nights,  and  in  the 
mornings  before  breakfast,  he  labored  upon  that  book,  during 
the  entire  year.  I  am  sure  that  that  ceaseless  labor  hastened 
his  end.  But  as  though  he  felt  that  his  years  were  few  on  the 
earth,  and  that  he  must  work  w^hile  the  day  lasted,  he  would 
listen  to  no  objections,  and  persevered  until  it  was  completed. 
He  wrote  that  book  with  his  life.  He  literally  coined  his  physi- 
cal and  mental  powers  into  its  pages." 

I  do  not  think  Br.  Chambr4  is  far  out  of  the  way. 
Looking  back  now  at  the  picture  so  fixed  in  my  memory,  I 
can  sympathize  with  him  in  his  opinion.  And  the  picture 
is  this  :  Early  and  late  —  late  and  early  —  the  strong  man 
at  his  desk  —  no  rest  —  no  respite  —  that  pen  moving  per- 
sistently on — t&e  book  growing  beneath  his  hand  —  grow- 
ing —  growing  ;  —  but  not  yet  finished.  Will  the  life  last 
to  the  end  ?  It  must  last.  The  work  must  be  done.  And 
so  he  crowded  on  all  the  sail  the  bark  could  possibly  bear, 
as  though  to  reach  the  desired  haven  before  the  flood  en- 
gulphed  him  forever  ! 
40* 


474  .  HEV.    SYLVANUS   COBB,   D.D. 

/ 

The  Commentary  was  finished  about  the  first  of  June, 
1864  ;  and  the  last  sheet  of  manuscript  passed  directly 
from  his  desk  to  the  compositor's  hand,  the  rest  of  the 
work  being  in  proof-print,  and  the  revised  sheets  struck  off. 
And  the  work  was  all  that  the  author  had  hoped  that  it 
might  be.  In  long,  long  years  yet  to  come  many  a  candid 
student  of  the  Scriptures  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ  shall  bless  the  heart,  the  head,  and  the  hand  that 
gave  that  book  to  the  world.  The  explanations  and  anno- 
tations, and  the  practical  observations,  are  clear  and  com- 
prehensive ;  and  while,  by  their  fulness  and  directness  of 
application  they  render  valuable  assistance  to  the  theolo- 
gian and  the  scholar,  they  are  so  simple  that  a  child  may 
understand  them. 

The  articles  of  commendation  which  have  appeared  in 
print  in  different  sections  of  the  country,  would  fill  a  vol- 
ume ;  and  I  have  also  in  my  possession  letters  from  numer- 
ous individuals  speaking  in  terms  of  unqualified  commen- 
dation. Abraham  Lincoln's  return  of  thanks  to  the  author 
for  the  copy  of  a  work  "  which  had  deeply  interested  him," 
was  a  source  of  gratification  and  honest  pride ;  but  those 
words  which  touched  him  most  deeply  were  from  his 
beloved  brethren  in  the  ministry  in  whose  judgment  and 
truth  he  had  fullest  confidence.  Among  the  notices  which 
he  had  most  carefully  marked  and  selected  for  preservation 
I  find  the  following  from  the  pen  of  Rev.  J.  G.  Adams  — 
a  man  whose  judgment  is  both  sound  and  reliable,  and  who 
is  not  given  to  flattery,  —  a  man  whose  many  years  of 
critical  theological  investigation  and  general  study  have 
rendered  fully  competent  to  "  speak  with  authority."  The 
article  was  published  in  the  "  Universalist''  of  September 
8,  1866,  and  was  the  last  scrap  that  Mr.  Cobb  ever  clipped 
from  a  paper.     Such  words  to  him,  then,  upon  the  verge 


THE   MEMOIR.  475 

of  the  dark  valley,  were  as  gleams  of  blessed  light,  bring- 
ing to  him  the  happifying  conviction  that  he  had  not  lived 
in  vain :  — 

"COBB'S  COMMENTARY. 

«•  To  THE  Editors  of  the  Universalist  :  — 

'•  I  desire  to  speak  a  few  words  in  The  Universalist  in  ref- 
erence to  the  Commentary  on  the  New  Testament  by  om'  well- 
known  theologian  and  author,  Rev.  Dr.  S.  Cobb.  Having  had 
and  used  this  volume  in  my  study  at  home  for  a  year  past,  I  am 
more  and  more  impressed  with  the  conviction  of  its  great  worth 
to  us,  denominationally,  and  of  its  value  as  a  contribution  to  the 
Christian  .literature  of  the  age.  It  is  a  work  of  great  ability, 
and  must  have  cost  the  author  long  and  hard  labor.  The  clear- 
ness of  the  expositions  of  Scripture,  and  the  manner  in  which 
references  are  kept  up  so  that  one  passage  shall  explain  another, 
all  being  in  the  reader's  hand  in  one  book,  make  it  of  inestimable 
value  to  the  student  of  Biblical  science,  to  the  Sabbath  School 
teacher,  and  to  readers  in  the  family  at  home. 

"I  speak  thus  from  my  own  experience,  and  I  find  this  re- 
peated in  what  I  learn  of  the  work  from  other  sources.  Wher- 
ever it  is  attentively  consulted  it  is  most  truly  appreciated.  Said 
an  earnest  woman  of  one  of  our  counti-y  Societies,  a  few  weeks 
since,  in  whose  home  I  found  a  copy  of  the  book,  *  What  an 
able  work  it  is,  and  of  how  much  service  it  is  to  our  denomina- 
tion! I  would  not  be  without  it.  Every  Universalist  family 
ought  to  have  a  copy  of  it  in  the  house.'  This  is  the  right 
thought.  It  ought  to  be  in  all  our  families ;  ought  to  be  read 
there  daily,  and  studied  habitually.  There  can  be  no  better 
daily  companion  than  this  book  for  the  inmates  of  our  homes. 
Let  me  also  say,  that  the  theological  ability  manifest  in  this 
Commentary  is  not  more  apparent  than  the  clear  spiritual  in- 
sight evinced  by  the  author  in  his  elucidation  and  application 
of  the  Sacred  Word. 

*'The  author  of  the  Commentary  is  one  of  the  ablest  of  the- 
ologians. His  debates  with  Dr.  Adams  and  Rev.  Mr.  Hudson 
do  him  great  honor ;  but  his  Commentary  on  the  New  Testament 
will '  keep  his  memory  green '  in  many  hearts  and  homes  for 
long  years  to  come. 


476  REV.    STLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

**  I  write  this  under  a  sense  of  the  truth  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment instruction,  '  Render  unto  all  their  dues.' 

"J.  G.  A." 

With  an  humble  and  appreciative  recognition  of  the  lim- 
its and  bounds  of  human  possibilities  we  may  say  that  in 
Mr.  Cobb  is  presented  a  remarkable  instance  of  a  life  per- 
fect in  all  its  parts,  and  perfect  as  a  complete  whole. 
From  the  day  that  he  bore  upon  his  shoulders  to  the  door 
of  his  neighbor  Sampson  the  hoop-poles  with  the  proceeds 
of  which  he  purchased  the  first  grammar-book  he  ever 
owned,  to  the  completion  of  his  Commentary,  he  com- 
menced no  work  which  he  did  not  complete,  if  we  except 
the  Autobiography ;  and  that,  of  course,  is  a  work  which 
no  mortal  can  do.  The  pen  must  drop  before  the  end  Com- 
eth, and  other  hands  must  finish  the  story.  And  then  how 
all  his  labors,  successful  in  their  various  parts,  and  meeting 
the  present  wants  for  which  they  were  undertaken,  culmi- 
nated towards  the  end  which  was  the  crown.  When  he 
commenced  the  writing  of  those  eighty  sermons,  which 
were  produced  in  Waterville,  almost  half  a  century  ago, 
"  To  the  Law  and  to  the  Testimony,"  he  had  a  present  aim 
in  view  ;  and  that  aim  was  accomplished.  And  then  came 
his  explanatory  sermons  upon  texts  of  Scripture  which  had 
vexed  his  friends,  and  discussions  with  opponents  of  his 
faith,  each,  in  turn,  answering  the  end  for  which  it  was 
taken  up.  And  then  his  Compend  of  Divinity,  perfect  in 
itself,  and  meeting  the  wants  which  called  it  into  existence. 
And  so  with  the  "  Adams  "  and  the  "  Hudson  "  controver- 
sies, —  they  were  complete,  each  in  itself,  and  each  had  its 
own  alpha  and  omega.  And  then  came  the  end,  when 
these  complete  parts  were  to  be  gathered  together  into  one 
Complete  Whole.  He  had  studied  enough,  and  enough 
had  been  treasured  up  of  biblical  knowledge  in  his  mind. 


THE  MEMOIR.  Vil 

to  warrant  bim  in  undertaking  the  Commentary  upon  the 
New  Testament  —  a  work  which  gathered  to  itself  the  rich 
results  of  a  lifetime  of  toil  and  research  —  a  work  which 
will  endure  for  ages  yet  to  come,  —  and  a  work  which  must 
transmit  his  meraorj',  fresh  and  verdant,  to  generations  j-et 
unborn.  So  was  his  life  complete,  and  he  was  ready  to 
render  an  account  to  the  Master  of  his  stewardship : 
"  Lord,  thou  deliveredst  unto  me  five  talents :  behold  I 
have  gained  besides  them  five  talents  more." 

And  from  the  realms  of  the  Unseen,  borne  to  his  soul 
through  the  ear  of  Faith,  cometh  the  blessed  sentence  : 

"  Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful  servant !  Thou  hast 
been  faithful  over  a  few  things ;  I  will  make  thee  ruler 
over  many  things.     Enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord  I  " 


478  r.EV.   STLVANUS    COBB  J   D.D. 


CHAPTEE  XV. 

Visit  to  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  —  Coming  to 
THE  Rescue,  —  A  "  Simile,"  —  Starting  for  the  West, 
—  Out  West,  —  First  Mission  to  Canada,  —  Second 
Mission  to  Canada,  —  Third  ditto,  —  At  his  old 
Labors  of  Pioneering. 

In  the  early  autumnal  weeks  of  1853  Mr.  Cobb  visited 
New  York,  in  company  with  his  wife,  and  was  there  on  the 
occasion  of  the  grand  exhibition  at  the  Crystal  Palace. 
From  New  York  he  went  on  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  had 
a  son  residing,  and  where  he  passed  a  pleasant  season. 
This  was  his  first  visit  to  the  "  City  of  Brotherly  Love," 
and  he  saw  many  things  that  interested  him.  He  preached 
for  Br.  Henry  Bacon,  in  the  Church  of  the  Messiah,  and 
formed  new  friendships  that  were  destined  to  endure  to  the 
end  of  his  life.  Of  course  he  could  not  leave  that  city  with- 
out paying  a  visit  to  Independence  Hall.  In  his  journal 
he  says,  — 

"We  have  just  been  to  Fairmount,  and  viewed  the  Reservoir 
from  which  the  city  is  supplied  with  water,  and  the  works  by 
which  the  water  is  forced  u^  into  the  Reservoir  from  the  Schuyl- 
kill. We  have  also  made  a  call  at  the  old  Independence  Hall, 
in  which  the  Continental  Congress  prepared  and  signed  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence.  We  sat  in  the  old  chairs  which  were 
occupied  by  Thompson  and  Hancock,  and  upon  the  bench  on 
which  Washington,  Lafayette,  and  Franklin  sat,  which  was  made 
of  Washington's  pew  taken  from  a  Presbyterian  Church.  On  a 
block  in  the  hall  sits  the  old  bell  which  rang  the  proclamation 


THE   MEMOIR.  479 

of  liberty.  The  bell  was  cast  by  Pass  &  Stow,  in  Philadelphia, 
in  1753,  with  the  inscri^^tion  in  large  raised  letters,  '  Proclaim 

LIBERTY  THROUGHOUT  ALL  THE  LAND,  TO  ALL  THE  INHABI- 
TANTS THEREOF.'  What  a  remarkable  coincidence,  that  this 
very  bell  did  perform  the  divine  office  assigned  it  by  this  pro- 
phetic inscription,  twenty-three  years  after  it  was  cast.  The 
minute  aftev  the  name  of  the  last  delegate  was  affixed  to  the 
'  Declaration,'  this  bell  was  pealing  out  its  notes  of  Libertij. 

"But  we  cannot  further  particularize.  Suffice  it  to  add,  that 
the  pleasantness  of  the  weather  throughout,  with  the  kindness 
and  urbanity  of  the  people,  and  all  circumstances  combined,  ren- 
dered exceedingly  pleasant  our  first  visit  to  Philadelphia." 

It  will  be  borne  in  mind  that  even  on  his  travels  Mr. 
Cobb  was  continuall}^  busy  with  the  editorial  department 
of  his  paper.  While  on  this  visit  to  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia he  had  in  hand  his  Review  of  Beeclier's  Conflict  of 
Ages.  His  custom  was,  wherever  he  might  be  spending  the 
night,  when  the  family  were  ready  to  retire,  to  call  for  pen 
and  ink,  and  devote  some  of  those  hours,  which  should 
have  been  given  to  sleep,  to  the  work  of  preparing  editorial 
matter  for  his  paper ,  and  often,  in  those  few  hours  thus 
filched  from  the  proper  season  of  rest  and  recuperation, 
when  all  was  quiet  and  hushed  around  him,  would  he  per- 
form a  full  daj-'s  work. 

During  the  month  of  June,  1854,  he  visited  his  native 
town  of  Norway,  and  was  present  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Maine  Convention  of  Universalists  which  was  holden  there 
on  the  28th  and  29th  insts.  It  was  my  privilege  to  attend 
those  meetings,  and  there  was  one  circumstance  connected 
therewith  which  will  long  be  remembered  by  many  of  those 
who  were  in  attendance.  The  last  day  of  the  meeting  was 
very  pleasant,  and  many  people  had  come  in  from  the  sur- 
rounding country,  fully  expecting  to  enjoy  a  feast  of  fat 
things.     In  the   forenoon  a  sermon  was  preached,  and  in 


480  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

the  afternoon  another  sermon  was  preached  ;  and  this  was 
to  have  concluded  the  services  of  the  occasion.  But  the 
people  were  not  satisfied.  They  had  not  heard  what  their 
souls  3'earned  for.  The  sermons  had  botli  been  good,  but 
they  had  not  met  the  spiritual  wants  of  that  congregation. 
The}^  had  been  very  finely  written  essa^^s,  containing  good 
thoughts  clothed  in  most  proper  language ;  but  there  had 
been  not  one  particle  of  that  gospel  power  that  moves  the 
soul  to  joy,  and  lifts  the  heart  up  nearer  to  God  and  heaven. 
The  last  preacher  had  pronounced  his  Amen,  and  the  con- 
cluding hymn  had  been  read  ;  but  it  did  not  seem  possible 
that  the  convention  could  close  in  such  a  spirit.  It  did  not 
seem  right.  The  only  limit  to  the  time  that  could  be  de- 
voted to  the  meeting  was  the  starting  of  the  cars  by  which 
some  of  the  brethren  and  sisters  must  go  towards  Portland. 
I  noticed  that  a  few  of  the  veterans  had  their  heads  togeth- 
er. "  This  will  never  do  !  "  said  Ezra  F.  Beal,  pulling  out 
his  watch,  and  consulting  it  a  moment.  "  We  must  not 
let  our  meeting  close  in  this  fashion.  We  must  be  warmed 
up !  " 

It  was  found  that  a  full  hour  might  be  safely  spent  be- 
fore the  cars  would  leave,  and  thereupon  "  Uncle  Ezra," 
after  conferring  with  a  few  others,  while  the  choir  was  sing- 
ing the  hymn,  went  to  Mr.  Cobb  and  told  him  that  he  must 
wind  up  the  meeting  with  one  of  his  glorious  old  Universal- 
ist  speeches.  Mr.  Cobb  needed  no  urging.  Those  who 
had  framed  the  order  of  exercises  for  the  occasion  had  not 
known  that  he  would  be  present ;  so  he  had  had  no  part 
assigned  him ;  but  his  soul  was  in  arms,  and  he  was 
anxious  to  lift  up  his  voice  in  that  place  where  he  had  lis- 
tened to  the  word  of  God  in  the  days  of  his  boyhood,  and 
where,  when  a  mere  youth,  he  had  preached  to  some  of  those 
who  now,  after  the  lapse  of  many  years,  wished  to  hear 


THE    MEMOIR.  481 

him  again.  And  so,  after  the  hymn  had  been  sung,  an- 
nouncement was  made  that  we  had  j^et  ahnost  an  hour  on 
our  hands,  and  "  Father  Cobb  "  was  called  upon  to  address 
the  assembl3^ 

I  have  heard  that  man  speak  many  times,  but  T  never 
heard  him  speak  better  than  he  did  on  that  occasion.  His 
v>'liole  spirit  was  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  desires  and 
needs  of  the  people,  and  he  launched  forth  upon  one  of 
those  orrand  themes  which  he  knew  so  well  how  to  handle. 
In  short,  it  was  a  Universalist  speech  —  Universalist  at 
the  beginning,  in  the  middle,  and  at  the  close.  It  was  a 
picture  of  the  power,  the  majesty,  the  goodness,  and  the 
fatherhood  of  God,  with  a  consideration  of  the  mission  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  power  of  the  Son,  through  the  Father, 
to  accomplish  the  work  which  had  been  given  him  to  do. 
He  spoke  over  half  an  hour  —  spoke  to  an  audience  that 
listened  with  almost  breathless  attention,  —  and  when  he 
had  concluded,  and  the  jDCople  wended  their  way  from  the 
church,  they  felt  that  it  had  been  good  for  them  that  they 
had  been  there. 

While  we  have  Mr.  Cobb  here  in  the  town  of  Norway  I 
am  reminded  of  an  anecdote,  or,  rather  of  a  simile,  which 
he  has  often  used,  and  which  was  drawn  from  one  of  the 
sports  of  his  boyhood.  On  a  certain  occasion,  when  Mr. 
Cobb  was  present  with  a  number  of  ministering  brethren, 
the  conversation  turned  upon  the  subject  of  the  Rationalis- 
tic tendency  of  some  of  our  clergymen,  and  the  fear  was 
expressed  that  it  might  bring  the  whole  denomination  into 
discredit.  If  so  many  of  those  claiming  our  fellowship  are 
inclined  to  treat  certain  portions  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures 
as  of  no  authority  as  words  of  inspiration,  may  not  we  who 
are  free  from  such  stain  be  implicated  ?  But  Mr.  Cobb  had 
no  fears.  He  said  that  a  bad  man  might  pass  himself  at 
41 


482  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D, 

times  for  a  good  man  ;  but  socict}'  seldom  mistook  a  true 
and  devout  Christian  for  a  rascal.  And  so  a  man  who 
claimed  that  he  was  not  called  upon  to  place  full  reliance 
in  all  parts  of  the  Sacred  Record  might  pass  himself  off 
upon  society  as  a  safe  Christian  teacher ;  but  there  was  no 
danger  that  society  would  ever  mistake  the  earnest,  sincere, 
and  devout  believer  in  the  Inspired  Volume  for  an  infidel ; 
and  in  illustration  he  related  the  following  :  — 

'*A  brook  runs  through  the  homestead  farm,  called  Sucker 
Brook.  Early  in  the  spring,  just  after  the  ice  breaks  up  in  the 
pond  into  which  the  brook  flows,  the  fish  called  suckers  run  up 
the  stream,  and  in  the  night  they  come  out  from  their  hiding 
places  and  lie  about  on  the  bottom  of  the  open  stream.  In  the 
days  of  our  boyhood  we  used  to  go  out  upon  the  banks  of  the 
stream,  with  birch  bark  torch  in  one  hand  and  spear  in  the  other, 
and  catch  tliis  species  offish.  Sometimes  we  would  get  our  eye 
on  a  hemlock  knot  or  a  club  lying  upon  the  bottom  of  the  stream, 
which  somewhat  resembled  in  shape  a  fish.  As  Ave  would  look 
upon  it,  the  rippling  motion  of  the  water  would  cause  the  object 
to  appear  as  if  slightl}^  moving  its  extremities,  and  we  would 
almost  believe  it  was  a  fish,  but  always  with  doubt.  But  at 
length  we  would  thrust  the  spear,  and  lo,  up  came  a  club.  But 
we  never  committed  a  mistake  the  other  way,  nor  had  occasion 
to  stop  and  query.     We  never  mistook  a  real  fish  to  be  a  club. 

"Just  so  with  our  comet-riding  philosophers  who  choose  to 
w^ear  the  Christian  name.  They  say  so  many  complimentary 
things  of  the  Bible,  and  Christ,  and  inspiration,  and  miracles, 
that  we  are  oft  inclined  to  believe  that  they  are  really  Christian 
in  faith  ;  and  yet  we  see  so  much  of  their  equivocal  definings  that 
we  are  at  best  in  doubt.  But  we  never  had  doubt  on  the  other 
hand.  When  the  true  enlightened  Christian  believer  plants  him- 
self upon  the  foundation  of  the"  prophets  and  apostles,  Jesus 
Christ  himself  being  the  chief  corner  stone,  he  is  ingenuous,  un- 
hesitating, open,  bold,  and  seen  and  known  of  all  men  as  what 
he  is,  a  believer  in  the  prophets  of  the  Old  and  the  Christ  of  the 
New  Testament,  as  reliable  in  their  respective  missions  as  or- 
dained and  attested  of  God." 


THE   MEMOIR.  483 

During  the  month  of  July,  1855,  Mr.  Cobb  made  another 
visit  to  New  York,  preaching  two  Sabbaths  in  Rev.  Mr. 
Balch's  pulpit ;  and  also  visiting  Newark,  N.  J.  It  was  the 
first  time  he  was  ever  in  the  latter  place,  and  he  expressed 
himself  as  much  pleased  with  what  he  saw  in  that  "  Cit}^  of 
Churches."  Rev.  A.  St.  John  Chambre,  between  whom  and 
himself  there  had  existed  a  warm  and  enduring  friendship, 
was  settled  in  Newark  at  the  time,  and  he  did  what  he  could 
to  make  "Father  Cobb's"  visit  pleasant  and  profitable  ;  and 
here  Mr.  Cobb  formed  other  friendships  which  I  know  were 
mutually  warm  and  true. 

In  the  Summer  of  1860,  Mr.  Cobb,  in  company  with  his 
wife,  made  his  first  visit  to  the  "great  West,"  and  it  proved 
to  him  one  of  the  most  pleasant  and  agreeable  trips  in  his 
long  and  varied  experience  of  travel.  He  went  by  the  way 
of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  preaching  on  Sunday,  Au- 
gust 26th,  for  the  Eighth  Street  Universalist  Societ}^  in 
the  latter  city.  From  Philadelphia  he  rode  336  miles,  to 
Altoona,  where  he  found  a  kind  and  hospitable  friend  in 
Mr.  D.  R.  Miller,  of  the  "  Logan  House."  From  Altoona  a 
ride  of  117  miles  brought  him  to  Pittsburg,  where  he  had 
occasion  for  gratitude  to  Bros.  Alfred  P.  Anshutz,  and  J. 
C.  Buffam  for  the  many  acts  of  kindness  they  did  for  the 
comfort  of  himself  and  wife.  From  Pittsburg  a  night  ride 
of  188  miles  brought  him  to  Crestline,  where  he  took  break- 
fast ;  and  thence,  206  miles,  to  Indianapolis,  where  he 
found  a  pleasant  home  with  Bro.  M.  G.  Lee,  of  the  ^'•Herald 
and  Era.'"  August  30th,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  pursued  their 
course  110  miles,  to  Cincinnati,  where  they  were  indebted 
to  the  kindness  of  Br.  John  E.  Jones  and  his  estimable 
lady  for  the  comforts  of  home. 

Sunday,  Sept.  2d,  Mr.  Cobb  preached  in  Cincinnati  in 
the  forenoon,  and  in  the  afternoon  he  preached  four  miles 


484  EEV.     SYLVANUS     COBB^    D.D. 

distant,  at  a  small  agricultural  settlement  called  Delhi. 
While  stopping  in  C.  his  old  friend  Arad  Gerrj',  Esq.,  of 
Stoneham,  Mass.,  gave  himself  and  wife  a  pleasant  carriage- 
ride  through  the  principal  portions  of  the  city  and  its  sub- 
urbs. And  from  here  Mr.  Cobb  crossed  over  into  Kentuck}-, 
his  lirst  ingress  into  a  Slave  State. 

From  Cincinnati  he  went  to  Muncie,  Ind.,  to  attend  the 
Indiana  State  Convention,  in  the  proceedings  of  which  he 
took  several  important  parts.  His  liome  while  in  Muncie 
was  v/ith  Br.  Charles  F.  Willard,  whose  kindness,  together 
with  that  of  his  wife,  Mr.  Cobb  declared  would  "constitute 
a  bright  memory  in  his  life's  pathway.'*  At  the  close  of 
the  Convention  he  returned  to  Pittsburg,  where  he  spent 
three  days,  preaching  there  on  Sunday,  Sept.  16th.  "  The 
Everlasting  Smoke  "  afforded  him  a  theme  for  an  extended 
paragraph  in  his  Journal,  though  he  found  many  things  in 
that  smoky  eit}^  of  more  than  passing  interest.  From 
Pittsburg  he  travelled  homeward  by  the  outward-bound 
route,  reaching  the  "  Castle"  safe  and  sound,  feeling  that 
he  had  gained  much  by  the  journe}',  and  that  his  deepest 
gratitude  was  due  to  the  Father  of  all  Mercies  for  the 
manifold  blessings  that  had  been  showered  upon  him. 

Early  in  the  Summer  of  1861  Mr.  Cobb  made  a  visit  to 
another  section  of  the  countr}^  which  his  feet  had  never 
before  trod,  this  time  turning  his  steps  towards  Canada 
West.  He  had  long  been  desirous  of  meeting  with  the 
Universalist  brethren  of  the  Queen's  dominions,  and  when 
he  saw  a  notice  of  their  Association,  to  be  holden  on  the 
14th,  15th,  and  16th  days  of  June,  at  Port  Dover,  he 
determined  to  be  there.  He  took  the  cars  at  the  Boston 
Depot  of  the  Norwich  and  Worcester  route  on  Saturda}^, 
June  8th.  He  went  by  the  way  of  New  York,  spending 
the  Sabbath  in  Brooklyn,  and  preaching  in  that  city  for 


THE   MEMOin.  485 

Br.  N.  M.  Gaylord.  On  Wednesday,  the  12th,  he  reached 
Port  Dover,  C.  W.,  where  he  found  warm  friends,  and 
which  place  he  liked  ;  and  here  he  remained  during  the 
sessions  of  the  Association.  There  were  a  goodly  number 
present,  but  man^^  of  them  had  come  from  great  distances, 
some  having  travelled  two  hundred  miles  to  be  present  at 
the  meeting.  On  the  18th  he  preached  a  lecture  in  Sel- 
kirk, sixteen  miles  distant  from  Port  Dover ;  and  at  the 
close  of  the  services  a  Rev.  Mr.  Warner,  of  a  sect  yclept 
the  "  Disciples"  had  some  questions  to  ask,  which  led  to 
quite  a  discussion  upon  the  subject  of  the  "  Last  Judg- 
ment;"' and  those  who  are  acquainted  with  Mr.  Cobb's 
powers  in  that  direction  can  easily  imagine  how  the  discus- 
sion ended.  One  lady,  kind-hearted  and  intelligent,  who 
had  listened  with  deepest  interest,  after  the  controversy  had 
been  brought  to  a  close,  expressed  herself  as  having  been 
brought,  by  the  teachings  of  the  evening,  to  really  love 
Universalism ;  but  she  had  one  important  question  she 
would  like  to  ask  concerning  the  Final  Judgment,  and  that 
was :  What  is  meant  by  that  passage  of  Scripture  which 
says,  —  "  As  death  leaves  us,  so  judgment  ivill  find  us." 
She  was  somewhat  mortified  when  she  was  brought  to 
understand  that  there  was  no  such  passage  in  the  Bible. 

After  various  peregrinations  Mr.  Cobb  returned  by  the 
way  of  New  York,  preaching  on  Sunday,  the  23d,  in  New- 
ark, and  reaching  home  on  Tuesday  morning. 

In  early  autumn  of  this  same  year  Mr.  Cobb  made  a 
second  mission  into  Canada.  During  his  first  visit,  after 
the  brethren  of  the  household  of  faith  had  heard  him 
preach,  and  had  become  convinced  that  he  was  just  the 
man  to  give  gospel  light  to  those  who  dwelt  in  darkness, 
they  urged  him  to  tarry  with  them,  and  preach  in  places 
where  there  was  need  of  his  services  ;  but  he  could  not  do 
41* 


^S6  REV.    SYLVAXUS     COJIB,    D.D. 

it.  He  promised  them,  however,  that  at  some  future  time, 
if  he  could  make  it  convenient,  he  would  make  them  an- 
other visit ;  and  this  he  did  in  September.  And  on  this 
occasion  he  worked  as  of  old.  We  need  not  follow  him  on 
his  peregrinations.  Read  the  following  closing  paragraph 
of  his  Journal,  and  you  will  be  able  to  form  some  concep- 
tion of  the  work  he  performed  :  — 

"AT  HOME  AGAIN. 

*'  'Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  and  forget  not  all  his  benefits.' 
Oct.  23d,  we  are  brought  in  safety  to  our  waiting  family  and 
business  charge,  finding  all  in  health,  peace  and  gladness.  We 
trust  that  we  are  not  insensible  to  our  obligations  to  our  Father 
in  heaven,  for  his  protecting  care  over  us  through  this  tour  of 
nearly  seven  hundred  miles  out,  occupying  four  weeks,  preserv- 
ing us  in  perfect  health,  and  sustaining  our  health  to  preach, 
without  fatigue,  almost  every  evening  after  reaching  Canada, 
and  twice  each  on  two  of  the  Saturda3^s  and  three  of  the  Sun- 
days. And,  as  it  is  well  known  to  those  who  have  experience 
in  such  work,  in  these  missionary,  and,  in  some  instances, 
pioneer  labors,  it  is  not  practicable  to  contract  any  sermon  to  a 
measure  of  time  less  than  an  hour." 

During  this  tour  he  preached  twenty-two  sermons. 

In  June,  1862,  Mr.  Cobb  made  yet  another  visit  to  Can- 
ada, and  attended  again  the  annual  session  of  the  Univer- 
salist  Association  at  Smithville.  On  the  way  he  stopped 
at  Niagara,  where,  with  his  wife,  he  found  a  welcome  and 
comfortable  home  with  his  friend,  T.  G.  Hulett,  Esq.,  who 
had  exacted  from  them  a  promise  that  they  would  make  his 
house  their  home  whenever  they  might  find  themselves  in 
that  region.  Concerning  this  third  mission  into  Canada 
w^e  will  only  add  that  old  bonds  of  friendship  were  newly 
cemented ;  new  bonds  formed ;  and  impressions  left  upon 
many  hearts  that  will  ever  hold  Mr.  Cobb  and  his  estima- 


THE  MEMOIR.  487 

ble  companion  in  honored  and  grateful  remembrance.  And 
our  Canada  friends  may  take  to  themselves  the  assurance, 
which  may  be  to  them  pleasing,  that  the  last  missionary 
labors  of  him  who  had  labored  so  long  and  so  extensively 
in  that  field,  were  performed  with  and  for  them.  And  they 
can  judge  how  faithfully  he  served  them,  and  how  produc- 
tive of  good  among  them  his  labors  were. 

And  thus,  in  the  evening  of  his  life,  was  he  engaged  as 
in  the  early  morning.  In  those  other  times  the  sun  had 
shone  not  more  brightly  than  in  these  of  which  we  now 
write  ;  only  then  it  was  in  the  Eastern  horizon,  arising  for 
the  journey  of  the  day  ;  while  now  it  was  in  the  West,  its 
beams  soft  and  mellow,  but  none  the  less  effulgent.  —  In 
the  West  —  slowly  sinking  —  its  disc  almost  touching  the 
everlasting  hills  behind  which,  ere  long,  its  glorious  face 
was  to  be  hidden  from  mortal  sight.  —  Hidden,  but  not 
lost.  No,  no, — the  sun  of  such  a  life  cannot  go  out. 
When  its  course  is  run,  and  its  evening  rest  is  found,  it 
still  gives  of  its  light  to  the  fair-faced  planets,  thus  smiling 
back  upon  the  earth  it  has  left,  even  in  the  hour  of  deepest 
night.  And  so  the  good  works  of  such  a  man,  set  in  the 
heaven  of  grateful  memory,  must  continue  to  reflect  back 
upon  earth  the  enduring  light  of  his  life  ! 


488  liEF.    SYLVANUS    COBJi,   D.D. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Visit  to  Washington,  —  Old  Fkiends  and  New,  —  A 
CASE  OF  "  Mutual  Admiration,"  —  Marlboro',  —  His 
Labors  and  vSuccess  in  that  Place,  —  Other  Labors, 
—  PIis  last  Preached  Sermon. 

During  the  month  of  January,  previous  to  the  third 
Canada  mission,  Mr.  Cobb,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life, 
made  a  visit  to  the  Capital  of  the  nation.  He  started  from 
home  January  24th,  1862,  stopping  over  Sunday  in  Phila- 
delphia, where  he  preached,  in  the  morning  in  the  Church 
of  the  Messiah,  and  in  the  Eighth  Street  Church  in  the 
evening. 

On  arriving  at  the  depot  in  Washington  he  was  met  at 
the  cars  by  his  friend,  Austin  Fowler,  Esq.,  of  Worcester, 
Mass.,  at  that  time  holding  an  important  position  in  the 
Treasur}^  Department,  and  who  had  corresponded  with  him 
in  relation  to  this  visit.  Mr.  Cobb  in  his  Journal  speaks  of 
Mr.  Fowler  as  a  noble,  whole-souled  man,  expressing  for  him 
a  love  such  as  only  can  endure  between  congenial  hearts. 
His  friend  Fowler  ("  Just  like  him  !  ".  says  Mr.  Cobb,)  had 
a  carriage  in  waiting,  and  conveyed  him  to  the  mansion  of 
Br.  Vassall,  where  he  was  to  find  a  home  while  at  the 
Capital. 

Although  this  was  Mr.  Cobb's  first  visit  to  Washington, 
he  was  far  from  being  among  strangers  ;  and  it  was  his 
good  fortune  not  only  to  have  been  long  known  to  many  of 
the  dignitaries  by  reputation,  but  with  quite  a  number  of 


THE   MEJICirc.  489 

the  most  important  of  them  he  was  intimately  acquainted. 
When  he  called  upon  the  Vice-President  he  met  an  old 
schoolmate,  between  whom  and  himself  existed  a  warm  and 
enduring  friendship,  and  whose  friendship  was  of  much 
service  at  that  particular  time.  And  so  in  both  houses  of 
Congress,  and  in  all  the  Departments,  Mr.  C.  met  those 
with  whom  he  had  been  on  terms  of  intimacy  at  other  times, 
and  in  other  places,  and  hence  his  visit  was  rendered  ex- 
ceedingly pleasant  and  profitable,  as  these  old  friends  all 
seemed  willing  and  anxious  to  extend  to  him  and  his  wife 
every  courtesy  within  their  power. 

On  Tuesday,  January  28th,  he  visited  several  of  the 
departments,  and  also  called  in  upon  the  Senate  and  the 
House  of  Representatives.  In  the  Senate  the  Vice-Presi- 
dent greeted  him  cordially ;  and  at  the  other  wing  of  the 
Capitol  he  gained  a  seat  upon  the  floor  of  the  House.  In 
the  evening  he  attended  the  President's  Levee,  where  he 
and  his  wife  were  introduced  to  Abraham  Lincoln.  As 
Mrs.  Cobb  was  introduced  she  said  to  him,  —  "Mr.  Lin- 
coln, before  I  left  my  home  I  resolved,  if  I  gained  an 
opportunity  to  speak  with  you,  I  would  say  that  I  consid- 
ered it  a  sufficient  introduction  to  the  President  that  I  had 
cast  seven  votes  towards  his  election  —  through  my  hus- 
band and  six  sons."  President  Lincoln  grasped  her  hand 
a  second  time,  and  jocosely  remarked, —  "That  reminds 
me  of  an  incident  over  at  a  review  across  the  Potomac  the 
other  day.  As  I  was  leaving  the  ground  a  man  whom  I 
was  passing  exclaimed,  — '  There  goes  Old  Abe.  I'm  glad 
I  cast  two  votes  for  him  ! '  I  turned,"  continued  the  Presi- 
dent, "  and  asked  him  if  he  cast  them  both  at  once." 

By  particular  invitation  of  the  President  Mr.  Cobb  and 
his  lady  were  seated  in  a  commodious  ante-room,  where 
they  enjoyed  an  opportunit}^  of  reviewing  the  vast  proces- 


490  nEV.  SYLVAXUS   conn,  d.d. 

sion  that  thronged  the  Reception  Room,  taking  the  hand 
of  the  Chief  Executive,  and  bowing  as  they  passed. 
Saj^s  Mr.  Cobb,  in  his  Journal,  — 

"Among  the  worthies  whom  we  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
and  greeting  here,  who  also  tarried  some  time  in  this  cozy 
ajDartment,  were  Gen.  Banks  and  his  lady,  and  Mrs.  Pierponl, 
as  old  acquaintances ;  and,  by  introduction,  Gen.  Jas.  W.  Rij)- 
ley ;  Hon.  Mr.  Crittenden  of  Kentucky ;  Judge  Wilkins,  Secre- 
tary of  War  under  President  Tyler ;  and  last,  not  least,  the  new 
and  live  Secretary  of  War,  Mr.  Stanton.  Him,  in  the  vigorous 
emotions  of  our  soul,  we  strongly  clasped  about  the  shoulders 
in  our  arms,  told  him  of  the  earnest  look  of  the  country  towards 
him,  and  bade  him  God-speed.  With  a  beaming  and  lively 
countenance  he  evinced  a  recij^rocal  emotion,  and,  as  he  passed 
on,  said,  'You  must  pray  for  me.'  Then,  turning  to  pass  out, 
he  again  took  the  hand  of  our  companion,  to  whom  he  had  of 
course  been  introduced,  repeating,  '  I  said  to  your  husband  that 
he  must  pray  for  me.''  Noble  public  servant,  — we  do  remember 
him  personally,  in  our  prayers  for  our  government  in  all  its 
departments." 

On  Friday  Mr.  Cobb  entered  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives just  as  Judge  Kelly,  of  Philadelphia,  was  commenc- 
ing his  powerful  speech  in  answer  to  a  member  who  had 
been  opposing  the  policy  of  confiscating  the  slave  property 
of  Rebels.  The  chair  in  front  of  the  Judge  happened  to 
be  vacant,  and  upon  that  Mr.  C.  seated  himself.  He  lis- 
tened earnestly  until  the  speech  was  concluded,  and  then, 
in  the  fulness  of  his  heart,  and  the  ardor  of  the  moment, 
he  started  to  his  feet,  and  grasping  Mr.  Kelly  by  the  hand, 
he  warmly  expressed,  in  his  blunt,  free-hearted  way,  the 
gratitude  he  felt  in  having  been  permitted  to  hear  that 
speech.  The  Judge  was  far  from  being  displeased  by  the 
compliment,  as  w^e  shall  see  anon. 

On  Sunday  Mr.  Cobb  preached  in  Rev.  Wm.  Henry 
Channing's  Church,  and  he  had  good  attendance,  both  in 


THE   MEMOIR.  491 

the  morning  and  in  the  evening.  Quite  a  number  of  Sen- 
ators and  Representatives  were  present,  and  the  preacher 
gave  them  one  of  his  old-fashioned  Universalist  sermons. 
At  the  close  of  the  morning'>s  services  one  of  the  first  to 
greet  Mr.  Cobb  as  he  descended  from  the  pulpit,  was  Judge 
Kelly.  "  Mr.  Cobb,"  said  he,  grasping  the  preacher  by 
the  hand,  "  allow  me  to  return  the  compliment  you  be- 
stowed upon  me.  I  can  truly  say  that  I  thank  you  for 
that  sermon."  It  was  a  pleasant  little  episode,  and  it 
formed  and  cemented  a  friendship  based  upon  mutual 
esteem  and  respect. 

On  the  following  day  Mr.  Cobb  left  the  Capital  for  home, 
entirely  satisfied  with  his  visit,  and  shortl}-  after  his  arrival 
at  the  "  Castle  "  he  received  the  following  letter  from  the 
friend  through  whose  influence  he  had  been  induced  to  make 
the  visit :  — 

"  Washington  City,  Feb.  10th,  1862. 

"My  Brother,  —  Your  visit  in  every  respect  appears,  as  I 
view  it  on  my  return,  to  have  been  what  I  predicted  it  would  be 
—  A  DECIDED  SUCCESS.  Very  intelligent  men  speak  in  hearty 
praise  of  your  labors  in  the  pulpit  here.  Some,  being  choice 
friends  of  mine,  have  gladdened  my  heart  by  such  cordial  and 
faithful  credit  to  you ;  while  others,  beariug  the  '  representative' 
character,  and  being  gentlemen  of  high  mental  attainments,  in 
speaking  so  highly  of  your  services,  do  fairly  stamp  the  pro- 
ceedings with  peculiar  and  lasting  interest. 

"I  hope  nothing  went  amiss  with  you  after  I  left  for  Boston, 
from  whence  I  am  just  returned.  A  line  from  you,  or  dear  Mrs. 
Cobb,  will  be  thankfully  received. 

"  Truly  and  kindly  yours, 

"Austin  Fowler. 

"ToKev.  S.  Cobb." 

During  the  month  of  May,  1863,  Mr.  Cobb  received  a  re- 
quest from  Mr.  Chipman,  of  Marlboro',  to  preach  in  that 
town,  it  being  understood  that  he  (Chipman)   was  to  pay 


492  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

him  for  his  services.  He  went  on  the  first  Sabbath  in  June, 
and  fulfilled  the  appointment.  It  then  appeared  that  three 
gentlemen  had  agreed  to  furnish  each  a  Sunday's  preaching 
in  Marlboro'  by  a  Universalist  minister  ;  and  when  the  other 
two  had  heard  Mr.  Cobb  preach  for  their  companion  the}^, 
in  turn,  engaged  him  to  preach  for  them.  When  this  third 
service  had  been  performed  a  subscription  was  raised,  and 
Mr.  Cobb  was  engaged  to  preach  for  them  every  other  Sab- 
bath, for  three  months.  At  the  expiration  of  the  three 
months  he  was  engaged  for  six  months. 

And  from  that  time  Mr.  Cobb  was  the  stated  preacher  of 
the  Word  in  Marlboro',  and  under  his  care  a  large  society 
grew  into  life  and  flourished  exceedingly.  He  loved  the 
society  as  he  had  loved  all  societies  that  had  grown  up 
under  his  charge,  and  all  that  lay  in  his  power  to  do  for 
them  he  did.  In  October,  with  the  assistance  of  his  wife, 
who  accompanied  him  much  of  the  time,  he  organized  and 
set  in  effective  operation  a  Sabbath-School,  which,  for  com- 
parative numbers  and  interest  was  not  to  be  excelled  by 
any  in  the  State.  And  the  children  of  that  Sabbath-School 
conceived  a  deep  and  ardent  love  for  their  kind  preacher ; 
and  on  the  17th  of  July,  1864  — Mr.  Cobb's  66th  birth-" 
day  —  they  presented  him  with  a  beautiful  album,  contain- 
ing the  photographs  of  a  large  number  of  the  teachers  and 
children,  as  a  token  of  their  affection  and  esteem.  He 
continued  to  preach  for  this  Society  until  February  of  1865, 
when,  feeling  that  the  interests  of  the  growing  society  de- 
manded that  they  should  have  a  settled  minister  with  them, 
and  being  unable  to  longer  bear  the  burden  of  the  labor 
his  love  for  them  had  led  him  to  impose  upon  himself,  he 
sought  and  obtained  for  them  the  services  of  Rev.  Wm.  A. 
Start,  a  3'oung  man  of  superior  attainments,  and  of  much 
promise.     Mr.  Start   had  been   serving  in  the   army   as 


THE   MEMOIR.  493 

Chaplain,  and  as  the  Marlboro'  brethren  had  expressed  a 
preference  for  him,  Mr.  Cobb  obtained  his  release  from  his 
military  position  ;  or,  at  least,  was  instrumental  in  obtain- 
ing it,  and  saw  him  in  due  time  installed  over  the  important 
charge. 

Mr.  Start  was  installed  as  Pastor  of  the  Universalist 
Society  in  Marlboro'  on  the  9th  of  May,  1865,  and  on  that 
occasion  it  devolved  upon  Mr.  Cobb  to  make  the  Charge 
upon  the  Delivery  of  the  Scriptures  to  the  Pastor  elect. 
And  that  charge,  the  last  service  of  the  kind  ever  performed 
by  the  faithful  father  in  Israel,  and  prepared  expressly  for 
the  occasion,  was  deemed  by  those  who  heard  it  one  of  the 
best  efforts  of  the  kind  ever  made. 

I  may  add  here  that  in  Mr.  Cobb  the  good  people  of 
Marlboro'  found  just  the  man  to  lift  them  up  to  an  under- 
standing and  appreciation  of  the  value  of  the  Gospel  in  its 
fulness  of  Love  and  Blessing,  and  that  they  fully  estimated 
and  acknowledged  his  services.  They  regarded  him,  while 
he  lived,  as  the  father  of  their  Society  ;  while  he,  in  turn, 
loved  them,  and  prayed  for  them  continually.  But  he  could 
not  have  served  them  when  they  came  to  need  a  settled  pas- 
tor ;  and  I  know  that  Mr.  Cobb  felt  in  his  heart  to  bless  God 
for  the  fortune  that  had  secured  to  them  in  that  capacity 
the  services  of  Bro.  W.  A.  Start. 

After  being  relieved  of  his  responsibility  in  Marlboro' 
Mr.  Cobb  preached  in  various  places,  averaging  about  half 
the  time,  during  the  succeeding  year.  But  he  ought  not  to 
have  done  it.  There  were  times  when  he  almost  fainted  in 
the  pulpit,  and  when,  even  in  prayer,  his  voice  utterly  failed 
him,  as  though  there  were  some  mighty  convulsion  within 
that  for  the  moment  paralyzed  his  vocal  powers.  And  yet 
he  talked  of  "  colds,"  and  of  "  accidental  fatigues,"  just 
such  as  he  might  have  met  in  the  other  years  when  there 
42 


494  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

had  been  no  jar  in  the  system,  and  such  as  would  disappear 
upon  rest  and  simple  medication.  And  he  loved  to  talk  of 
how  strong  and  well  he  was,  flattering  himself  all  the  while 
that  he  was  in  perfect  health.  But  he  could  not  give  up. 
His  mind  was  never  stronger,  nor  were  his  reasoning  pow- 
ers ever  more  clear  and  ready  for  use.  The  Scriptures  had 
become  as  a  book  thoroughly  mastered  unto  him,  and  his 
soul  yearned,  as  in  other  times,  to  break  the  bread  of  life 
to  his  fellow-men. 

On  Sunday,  the  28th  day  of  April,  1866,  he  preached  in 
Newark,  N.  J.,  and  on  the  20th  of  May  following  he 
preached  in  Canton,  Mass.  He  came  home  from  Canton 
suflfering  from  one  of  his  "  colds."  In  fact,  he  had  been 
suffering  from  it  for  some  time ;  so  that  his  wife,  when  she 
saw  him  depart,  entered  in  her  diary,  ere  she  retired  to  her 
rest  on  that  Saturday  night:  "  O  Lord,  do  thou  give  him 
strength  for  the  duties  of  the  day,  and  return  him  to  me  in 
health  and  peace  !  " 

And  when,  on  Monda}^,  she  saw  him  return,  apparently 
no  worse  for  his  labors,  she  was  led  to  exclaim,  in  the  ful- 
ness of  her  heart:  "Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  that  my 
darling  husband  has  been  returned  to  me  so  well !  " 

And  that  was  the  last  of  Mr.  Cobb's  preaching.  Never 
again  was  his  voice  to  be  lifted  up  in  the  sacred  pulpit  in 
behalf  of  the  glorious  cause  of  the  Redeemer  he  had  so  long 
and  so  faithfully  served.  His  physicians  —  the  best  in 
the  city  —  placed  their  edict  upon  him,  and  his  ministerial 
labors  were  at  an  end.  They  pointed  out  to  him  that  his 
only  hope  of  a  longer  hold  upon  life  lay  in  a  strict  and  en- 
tire abstinence  from  public  speaking.  He  yielded  for  the 
present ;  but  he  was  not  entirely  despondent.  His  pen  was 
left  him  yet,  and  with  that  he  might  still  speak  to  a  world 
whose  good  was  an  object  that  lay  ver}^  near  to  his  heart. 


TEE  MEMOIR,  495 


CHAPTEE   XYII. 

Back  with  the  Editor,  —  Sells  to  Usher  and  Quinby,  — 
Merging  of  Two  Papers  into  One,  —  "  Trumpet  and 
Freeman,"  —  Another  Move,  —  The  "  Publishing 
House,"  —  A  New  Name,  —  "  Theological  Editor,"  — 
"  Doctor  of  Divinity,"  —  The  old  Veteran  ill  at  ease 
—  "  Farewell,  Old  Chair  !  "  —  Lecturing  and  Speak- 
ing, —  Characteristics  as  a  Lecturer,  —  His  last  Lit- 
erary Effort,  —  Repose. 

We  will  now  take  up,  and  cany  to  its  dose,  Mr.  Cobb's 
career  as  an  Editor  ;  and  I  am  inclined  to  the  opinion  that 
this  was,  after  all,  his  most  important  mission,  as  we  must 
include  therein  the  production  of  his  books.  Through  the 
medium  of  the  pulpit  and  the  rostrum  he  did  much ;  but  it 
was  through  the  medium  of  his  printed  thoughts  that  he 
stamped  his  mind  upon  the  denomination  and  upon  the 
country,  putting  forth  a  power  that  was  to  be  felt  and  ac- 
knowledged, and  bending  circumstances  so  far  to  his  will 
as  to  be  able  to  see  every  one  of  his  earnest  desii-es  literally 
accomplished. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  twenty-second  volume,  in 
the  Spring  of  1854,  Mr.  Cobb  made  new  outlays  of  money 
for  the  purpose  of  enhancing  the  value  of  his  paper  ;  and  it 
is  safe  to  say  that  he  left  nothing  undone  that  lay  within 
his  wisdom  to  contrive,  and  power  to  accomplish,  towards 
that  end.  He  had  been  publishing  the  Freeman  twenty- 
one  years,  and  he  was  willing  to  turn  all  the  results  of  his 


496  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

long  experience  over  to  the  benefit  of  his  patrons.  He  told 
them  what  he  had  done  in  times  past ;  and  he  told  them  what 
he  would  do  in  the  time  to  come  ;  and  then  he  begged  them 
to  come  up  and  help  him.  He  stated  to  them  plainly  his 
wants,  and  he  hoped  they  would  lend  an  attentive  ear  to  his 
appeal.  Many  of  his  subscribers  answered  promptly,  and 
to  such  he  extended  his  warmest  gratitude  ;  but  many  others 
neglected  him,  and  gave  him  cause  for  sorrow.  At  this 
time  the  weekly  expenses  of  his  office  were  $150.00  in  ad- 
dition to  the  expense  for  the  support  of  his  family.  Said 
he  to  his  subscribers,  — 

"We  pay  rent,  but  receive  none.  We  pay  interest,  but  re- 
ceive none.  Our  expenses  must  be  paid  promptly,  or  our  busi- 
ness must  stop.  But  the  resources  for  such  j^aj^ment  lie  scat- 
tered over  thousands  of  miles  of  territory.  If,  therefore,  our 
patrons  do  not  remit  promptly,  what  shall  we  do  ?  If  we  are 
compelled  to  hire  on  extra  interest,  that  extra  will  by  and  by 
eat  us  up.  To  send  out  collectors  is  ruinously  expensive,  espe- 
cially through  regions  where  subscribers  are  scattering.  What 
then  shall  be  done?  What?  Why,  a  very  simple  and  easy 
thing  may  be  clone.  Each  one  who  owes  us  may  enclose  his 
due  to  us  immediately,  or  very  soon.  There  is  enough  clue  us 
to  make  our  pecuniary  circumstances  agreeable  and  pleasant." 

Again  he  says, — 

**  Our  editorial  and  other  labors  are  great,  and  only  an  iron 
constitution  could  bear  them.  But  a  failure  to  meet  our  pecu- 
niary obligation  wears  our  mind  and  nervous  system  more  than 
all  the  labor  of  both  the  Adams  and  Hudson  Discussions." 

Mr.  Cobb  struggled  on,  abating  not  one  whit  of  his  old 
energy  and  perseverance  ;  laboring  early  and  late  ;  writing 
his  editorials  upon  the  wing,  in  railway  cars,  and  on  board 
steamboats ;  travelling  hither  and  thither,  far  and  near ; 
collecting  the  dues  of  his  delinquent  subscribers ;  preach- 


THE   MEMOIR.  497 

ing  on  the  Sabbath,  and  lecturing  before  Lyceums,  and 
other  public  assemblies,  on  week  daj^s,  —  working,  work- 
ing, working,  as  though  work  were  life,  and  rest  a  state 
not  necessary  to  the  recuperation  of  wasted  powers.  But 
this  was  not  to  continue  much  longer.  He  had  borne  about 
all  he  could  bear,  and  tired  nature  demanded  repose.  He 
strove  on  until  he  became  satisfied  that  while  he  continued 
to  publish  his  paper  he  must  hold  strength  to  bear  up 
under  the  old  load  of  trial  and  perplexity ;  and,  being  at 
length  convinced  that  he  could  not  safely  bear  the  burden 
longer,  he  made  up  his  mind  that  he  would  throw  it  off  as 
soon  as  he  had  opportunity.  And  that  opportunity  was  at 
hand. 

In  the  Spring  of  1861  (March  21st)  Eev.  Thomas  Whit- 
temore,  the  publisher  of  the  Trumpet,  passed  from  this 
life  to  the  higher  sphere,  and  shortly  after  that  his  paper 
was  purchased  by  Rev.  James  M.  Usher,  who  had  for  some 
time  previous  had  charge  of  the  book  and  publishing 
establishment  connected  therewith. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1862  arrangements  were  made  for 
uniting  the  Christian  Freeman  and  the  Trumpet  into  one 
paper.  Rev.  George  W.  Quinby,  then  of  Middletown, 
Conn.,  who  had  formerly  published  and  edited  the  "  Star 
in  the  West"  and  who  was  a  thorough  editorial  manager  in 
every  respect,  entered  into  a  copartnership  with  Mr.  Usher, 
and  the  two  together  bought  out  Mr.  Cobb's  pecuniary 
interest  in  the  Freeman,  thus  consolidating  the  whole  Uni- 
versalist  publishing  interest  of  Boston,  so  far  as  weekly 
papers  were  concerned,  into  one  establishment ;  and  the 
ofispring  of  this  union  was  named  "  The  Trumpet  and 
Christian  Freeman."  Mr.  Cobb  was  retained  as  Editor- 
in-Chief  of  the  paper,  Brs.  Usher  and  Quinby  acting  as 
Associate  Editors. 
42* 


498  ItEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB^    D.D. 

And  here  allow  me  to  remark  that  from  that  time,  while 
Mr.  Cobb  remained  upon  earth,  the  friendship  between 
himself  and  those  two  brothers  was  never  broken  —  never 
shaken.  It  was  warm,  true,  and  enduring.  Br.  Usher  he 
had  known  from  early  j^outh,  and  j^ears  before,  while  resid- 
ing in  Maiden,  the  said  brother  had  been  a  member  of  his 
famil3\  Both  loved  Mr,  Cobb  for  his  many  good  qualities 
of  head  and  heart,  and  I  think  they  never  withheld  a  favor 
which  was  in  their  power  to  grant.  The  union  was  a  har- 
monious and  happy  one,  and  Mr.  Cobb  still  continued  to 
throw  his  whole  soul  into  his  editorial  work.  But  this 
arrangement  was  not  long  to  continue. 

For  some  years  there  had  been  a  desire  on  the  part  of  a 
number  of  the  ministering  brethren  that  steps  should  be 
taken  towards  the  establishment  of  a  paper  to  be  published 
and  controlled  by  the  Denomination  ;  and  even  before  the 
death  of  Mr.  TVhittemore  some  of  these  brethren  had  ap- 
proached Mr.  Cobb  to  ascertain  on  what  terms  he  would 
dispose  of  the  Freeman  ;  but  at  that  time  he  was  not 
anxious  to  sell,  and  the  price  which  he  set  put  a  bar  to 
further  negotiations.  Many  able  men  among  our  ministers 
were  opposed  to  the  project,  feeling  that  a  paper  so  owned 
and  conducted  could  have  no  individuality  of  sentiment  and 
purpose ;  but  as  they  were  not  directl}^  interested  they 
offered  no  serious  objection,  and  placed  no  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  its  accomplishment.  The  men  who  had  charge  of 
the  movement  were  industrious  and  i^ersistent,  and  at  length 
the  desire  of  their  souls  was  gratified.  An  association  was 
formed,  called  "  The  Neio  England  Universalist  Publishing 
House"  and  to  that  association  Messrs.  Usher  and  Quinby 
sold  their  entire  establishment  —  Books,  Papers,  Plates, 
and  all.  So  the  Trumpet  and  Christian  Freeman,  in  the 
month  of  November,   1862,  became  the  property  of  the 


THE   MEMOIR.  499 

<' Publishing  House,"  Mr.  Cobb  being  retained  as  Theologi- 
cal Editor. 

The  following  letter  tells  its  own  story :  — 

*'  Tufts  College,  July  8,  1863. 

"  To  Rev.  Sylvaxus  Cobb,  D.  D. 

*'  My  dear  Sir,  —  I  take  pleasure  in  informing  you  that  the 
Government  of  the  College  have  this  day  conferred  ujion  you  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity,  in  recognition  of  youv  high 
Christian  character,  sound  Biblical  Learning,  and  eminent  ser- 
vices on  behalf  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 

*'  I  am,  with  great  respect,  yours  truly, 

"A.  A.  '^h^^u.  Presidents 

This  honorable  and  revered  title,  if  we  can  believe  the 
best  and  most  observing  men  of  our  times,  was  never  more 
worthily  bestowed,  nor  more  eminently  merited.  Surely 
the  recipient  of  the  degree  in  this  case  had  most  emphat- 
ically and  unmistakably  been  proving  to  the  world  for  long 
and  laborious  years  that  he  was  a  complete  master  of  the 
whole  entire  sj^stem  of  Di\inity.  Mr.  Cobb  accepted  the 
gift  with  gratitude  because  he  knew  that  it  had  been  be- 
stowed as  no  empty  title,  but  as  a  mark  which  he  had  won, 
and  which  he  could  now  wear,  legitimately.  And  his  nu- 
merous friends  were  pleased  because  the  conferring  of  the 
degree  upon  the  old  and  faithful  pioneer  was  a  response  to 
their  most  earnest  and  devout  vrishes. 

And  so  the  Theological  Editor  was  now  "  Rev.  Sylva- 
Nus  Cobb,  D.  D." 

As  I  approach  the  closing  scenes  of  my  father's  life,  of 
which  I  am  to  make  a  record  that  shall  go  down  to  poster- 
it}^,  I  feel,  resting  solemnly  upon  me,  the  duty  I  owe  to  the 
memory  of  the  departed,  as  well  as  to  those  who  are  to 
read  what  I  write.     I  take  counsel  of  my  own  heart,  trust- 


500  REV.    SYLVANVS   COBB,   D.D. 

ing  that  God  lias  placed  therein  a  desire  and  a  will  to  deal 
justly,  and  to  bear  witness  to  the  truth. 

Mr.  Cobb,  in  his  salutatory,  adduced  evidence  to  show 
that  he  "  ought  to  have  some  experience  even  in  the  new 
position  in  which  he  was  placed." 

But  he  was  to  find  that  no  such  experience  had  beep  his. 
Never  before  had  he  sat  in  the  chair  editorial  with  a  cen- 
sorship above  him  other  than  his  own  conscience  and  his 
God.  That  old  chair  had  lost  its  sublimity  of  entire  inde- 
pendence, and  in  it  now  he  began  to  feel  cramped  and  out 
of  place.  He  was  no  longer  master  of  the  situation,  and 
in  deploying  his  forces  he  was  obliged  to  consult  the 
movements  of  others,  so  that  there  might  be  no  clashing. 
But  in  this  result  there  could  be  no  blame  attached  to  any 
one.  The  very  nature  of  the  circumstances  rendered  it 
impossible  that  his  position  could  have  been  else  than  it 
was.  He  was  only  "  Theologica.l  Editor,"  During 
nearly  quarter  of  a  century  he  had  been  general-in-chief 
of  all  the  forces  in  the  field ;  and  every  movement,  from 
the  throwing  out  of  a  picket  to  guard  against  surprise 
from  some  wandering  guerilla  in  the  shape  of  a  rum-seller 
or  a  slave-catcher,  to  an  advance  of  the  grand  army 
against  the  main  body  of  the  enemy,  had  been  directly 
under  his  supervision.  No  matter  where  he  was,  nor  what 
was  the  occasion,  his  fancies  went  upon  paper  as  they 
found  birth  in  his  brain,  and  thence  into  the  columns  of 
his  Freeman  ;  and  all  his  readers,  j^oung  and  old,  grave 
and  gay,  conservative  and  progressive,  knew  just  where  to 
find  him,  and  to  whom  to  look  for  the  thoughts  that 
marked  the  character  of  the  paper.  Then  he  had  been 
able  to  meet  the  old  enemy  of  Orthodoxy  in  this  quarter  ; 
the  foul  fiend  of  Intemperance  in  that  quarter ;  the  dark 
shadow  of  Infidelity  in  another  quarter  ;  while  other  evils, 


THE  MEMOIR.  501 

great  and  small,  he  could  attack  at  will.  But  noiu  all  was 
changed.  He  had  his  department  assigned  him,  and  he 
had  the  privilege  of  writing  theology  to  his  heart's  con- 
tent. 

No,  no,  —  it  was  not  to  him  a  pleasant  position,  even 
though  at  times  he  may  have  tried  to  make  himself  think 
to  the  contrary.  I  know  how  he  felt,  and  I  know  that  he 
did  not  feel  at  home.  The  Directors  of  the  Establishment 
did  all  they  could  to  make  his  position  a  pleasant  one ; 
but  —  the  very  fact  that  there  were  Directors  to  whom  he 
was  to  look  was  in  itself  sufficient  to  annoy  him.  It  was 
not  his  Old  Chair  of  the  other  years  ;  and  it  laid  not  in  the 
power  of  the  Directors  to  make  it  so.  It  was  not  his  old 
"  Christian  Freeman  ;  Sylvanus  Cobb,  Editor  and  Pro- 
prietor"—  and  all  the  Directors  in  the  world  could  not 
have  made  it  so,  without  giving  up  all  that  they  had  so  long 
striven  for. 

It  is  hard  to  take  an  old  general,  who  has  led  the  hosts 
in  a  thousand  battles,  marching  and  fighting  under  his  own 
colors,  and  place  him  upon  the  staff  of  a  confederation  of 
commanders,  expecting  him  to  throw  heart  into  the  work 
as  he  did  of  old  !  And  more  especially  when  the  veteran 
has  grown  gray  in  the  service,  and  has  reached  a  stage  of 
life  when,  if  ever,  he  must  feel  naturally  restive  under 
restraint. 

But  there  was  no  trouble  —  no  heart-burnings  nor  jeal- 
ousies that  ruffled  the  waters  upon  the  surface.  AYhat 
there  may  have  been  of  under-currents  —  occasional  meet- 
ing of  waters  setting  in  different  directions  deeper  down  in 
the  flood  —  I  am  unable  to  say.  All  I  can  say  is,  Mr. 
Cobb  retained  his  place  as  Theological  Editor  of  the  Trum- 
pet AND  Freeman  until  the  Spring  of  1864,  and  then  he 
gave  it  up.     The  duties  had  come  to  wear  upon  him  j  other 


502  nEV.    SYLVANUS     CGBB^    D.D. 

matters  of  business  were  upon  his  hands  ;  his  Commentaiy 
of  the  New  Testament  was  in  press ;  and  he  felt  that  he 
had  better  take  a  short  respite  from  continuous,  pressing, 
obligatory  toil.  The  labors  of  the  year  just  past  —  the 
3'ear  of  the  writing  of  the  Commentary  —  as  the  reader 
already  knows,  had  been  of  the  most  wearing  and  exhaust- 
ive kind,  and  at  length  his  own  good  judgment  told  him 
that  there  was  a  limit  to  his  powers  of  endurance ;  and 
that  limit  had  been  reached.  He  left  the  chair  editorial 
bearing  with  him  the  best  wishes  of  all  with  whom  he  had 
been  associated ;  and  I  know  that  he  treasured  up  a  just 
appreciation  of  the  uniform  kindness  of  his  associates 
towards  himself. 

Farewell,  Old  Chair !  In  all  the  years  to  come  there 
shall  never  sit  within  thy  waiting  arms  another  that  can 
bring  to  thee  a  truer  heart,  a  more  genial  spirit,  or  a  pur- 
pose made  more  blessed  in  its  aim  for  Universal  Good,  than 
was  thine  to  bear  in  the  honored  person  of  him  whose 
Memoirs  I  write ! 


After  leaving  the  editorial  chair  Mr.  Cobb  continued  to 
furnish  theological  matter  for  the  first  page  of  the  paper, 
which  had  come  to  be  called  "  The  Universalist."  He  also 
WTote  quite  extensively  for  the  secular  press  upon  the  cur- 
rent topics  of  the  day.  How  could  a  man  who  had  for  so 
many  years  been  a  constant  observer  and  faithful  chroni- 
cler of  passing  events,  lay  himself  away  upon  the  shelf  of 
oblivion  while  the  nation  was  engaged  in  a  mighty  struggle 
for  the  salvation  of  its  very  life  ?  —  while  on  every  hand 
were  transpiring  events  of  surpassing  moment  ?  He  could 
not  do  it.  As  well  might  he  have  thought  to  live  without 
nourishment  for  the  body  as  without  this  outlet   to  the 


THE   MEMOIR.  503 

crowding  impressions  and  conceptions  of  his  busy  brain ; 
and  so,  after  leaving  the  editorial  office,  he  passed  the 
lighter  results  of  his  literary  labors  over  to  the  secular 
press  ;  and  many  an  old  friend  and  admirer  gained  enter- 
tainment and  profit  from  his  articles  in  the  Boston  daily 
papers  without  knowing  whence  they  came.  In  fact,  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  contributing  occasionally  to  those  same 
columns  while  engaged  as  Theological  Editor  of  the  *'  Uni- 
versalist,"  for  there  were  many  subjects  connected  with  the 
political  affairs  of  the  country  which  he  could  not  "  let 
alone,"  and  which,  at  the  same  time,  he  could  not  with 
propriety  assume  to  publish  in  a  periodical  of  which  only  a 
stated  and  limited  department  was  his  to  occupy.  And  in 
this  connection  it  will  not  be  deemed  out  of  place  for  me 
to  record  the  fact  that  for  his  labors  in  this  latter  field  he 
received  the  personal  thanks  of  such  men  as  Governor 
Andrew,  Senator  Wilson,  Gen.  Banks,  and  others  of  like 
high  standing.  And  I  also  find  among  his  papers  an  auto- 
graph letter  from  Abraham  Lincoln,  warmly  thanking  him 
for  an  able  and  masterly  defence  which  he  had  made  of  the 
then  contemplated  Presidential  policy  of  Emancipation. 
Hon.  Henry  Wilson  once  remarked  to  the  writer,  —  "It 
does  me  good  to  meet  Mr.  Cobb  when  I  come  home  on  a 
visit  from  Washington.  I  love  to  feel  his  warm  grasp,  and 
receive  his  cheering  words  of  congratulation  and  God- 
speed." 

In  addition  to  his  literary  labors,  Mr.  Cobb  was  engaged 
to  some  extent  in  the  Lecturing  field  ;  but  he  could  not  in 
these  later  days,  do  justice  to  himself  in  that  department. 
A  Lj^ceum  lecture  must  be  necessarily  long,  as  the  speaker 
generally  has  the  whole  burden  of  entertainment  upon  his 
own  shoulders.  And  then  speaking  in  the  evening,  and  in 
cold  weather,  —  for  the  lecture  season  is  during  the  late 


504  REV.    SYLVAXUS     COBB.    D.D, 

Autumnal  and  Winter  season,  —  was  bad  for  him.  Those 
who  have  never  tried  the  experiment  ma}^  not  understand 
it.  But  when  a  man  has  been  using  his  voice  for  an  hour, 
or  more,  in  a  heated,  crowded  room,  perhaps  not  properly 
ventilated,  it  may  be  supposed  that  liis  lungs  and  bron- 
chial tubes  are  somewhat  excited  when  he  gets  through ; 
and  it  may  be  readily  understood  how  liable  a  man  is,  under 
such  circumstances,  to  take  cold  if  he  is  not  very  careful 
when  he  comes  out  into  the  cold,  fresh  air.  And  Mr.  Co\)b 
found  difficulty  in  this  tiresome  lecturing  on  "Winter  even- 
ings, —  so  much  so  that  he  was  forced  to  refuse  many  calls 
for  his  services.  And  here  I  may  as  well  speak  of  what 
was  not  known  until  after  his  death.  I  have  spoken  of 
those  "  colds"  that  had  troubled  him  ;  and  bethought  they 
were  simple  colds  that  broke  him  down  so  completely  in 
voice  on  different  occasions.  But  the  autopsy  revealed 
that  there  was  an  old  adhesion  of  the  right  lung  to  the  wall 
of  the  thorax,  in  the  region  of  the  inferior  angle  of  the 
scapula.  This  adhesion  was  so  positive  that  over  a  super- 
ficies of  some  twenty-four  square  inches  the  substance  of 
the  lung  was  so  firmly  grown  to  the  ribs  that  the  point  of 
adhesion  was  far  stronger  than  the  lung  itself.  So  the 
reader  can  now  understand  what  had  troubled  the  man  so 
much  in  other  years,  for  it  was  \QYy  evident  that  the  diffi- 
culty had  commenced  when  he  used  to  complain  of  those 
"  stitches  "  in  that  region  even  while  preaching  in  the  Bath 
House. 

Still  Mr.  Cobb  lectured  considerabl}^,  and  to  good  accept- 
ance. I  speak  now  of  course,  of  lectures  before  literary 
bodies  and  societies.  And  he  also  made  it  in  his  way  to 
address  political  assemblies  whenever  he  had  opportunity, 
and  his  services  were  required.  Says  the  MiJford  Journal^ 
at  the  close  of  a  lengthy  report  of  one  of  his  lectures  on 


THE   MEMOIR.  505 

"  The  Duty  of  the  Citizen  to  the  Country  in  the  (then)  Pres- 
ent Emergency  "  — 

*'The  lecture  throughout,  was  a  sound,  logical,  philosophical, 
patriotic  production,  evincing  a  clear  historical  and  moral  view 
of  the  cause,  and  treatment,  of  our  present  national  difficulties." 

But,  after  all,  Mr.  Cobb  was  not  what  would  be  denom- 
inated a  popular  lecturer.  He  was  not  mentally  constitu- 
ted for  such  an  office.  His  thoughts  were  too  ponderous, 
and  his  ideas  too  plainly  practical  and  utilitarian.  At 
times  he  could  relate  an  anecdote  with  extreme  gusto,  and 
descend  to  light  by-play  and  flashes  of  wit ;  but  it  was  not 
natural  with  him.  When  he  found  himself  before  an  audi- 
ence, prepared  to  speak  to  them,  he  had  some  subject  upon 
his  mind,  and  be  sure  it  was  an  important  one  ;  and  when 
he  arose  he  had  but  one  aim  in  view,  and  that  was,  to  im- 
press upon  the  minds  of  his  hearers  the  same  sentiments 
and  convictions  that  dwelt  upon  his  own  ;  and  to  this  end 
he  used  the  plainest  kind  of  language,  moving  straight  on 
towards  the  end  —  never  stopping  to  pluck  flowers  here ; 
to  peep  into  a  beautiful  grotto  there  ;  to  pick  a  few  berries 
from  this  bush  ;  and  knock  an  apple  or  a  peach  from  yonder 
tree. 

Mr.  Cobb  had  his  province,  and  no  man  could  have  filled 
it  better.  When  people  were  hungering  and  thirsting 
for  light  and  truth,  he  could  satisfy  them.  When  they 
needed  to  be  led  upward  to  higher  and  nobler  walks  of 
life,  he  could  lead  them  ;  and  when  they  failed  to  perceive 
the  duties  that  devolved  upon  them  as  children  of  God  and 
constituent  members  of  a  Christian  government,  he  was 
the  man,  fully  warranted  by  his  own  practical  observance 
of  those  duties,  to  "  stir  up  their  pure  minds  by  way  of 
remembrance."  But  when  it  came  to  catering  to  those 
43 


506  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

appetites  which  craved  fun  and  excitement,  he  was  not  the 
man  to  serve  them. 

The  last  literary  labor  in  which  Mr.  Cobb  was  engaged 
was  the  preparation  of  his  Autobiography.  He  had  no 
periodical  upon  his  hands  in  which  to  feel  an  interest ;  he 
did  not  feel  like  throwing  a  new  theological  book  into  the 
market,  — though  he  had  the  plan  and  groundwork  for  one 
all  laid  out,*  —  and  he  could  not  remain  idle.  What 
should  he  do?  His  youngest  sons  —  the  Twin  Brothers  — 
said  to  him,  "  Write  your  Autobiography,  and  we  will  buy 
it  and  pay  you  a  handsome  sum  for  it."  And  straightway 
he  went  at  the  work  ;  and  how  much  he  accomplished  the 
reader  has  seen.  He  was  a  long  while  in  writing  those 
pages.  Dear  Reader,  could  you  have  seen  him,  towards 
the  end,  after  he  had  become  so  weak  that  he  could  with 
difficulty  move  from  his  chamber  to  his  study,  and  had 
been  admonished  by  his  ph3^sicians  that  he  must  not  write 
over  ten  minutes  at  any  one  time,  you  would  have  bowed 
your  head  in  sadness  and  sorrow.  You  would  have  seen 
him,  the  mere  shadow  of  his  former  self,  struggle  up  from 
his  chair  by  the  window  of  his  chamber  that  overlooked 
the  busy  harbor,  and  toil  slowly  and  painfally  away  to  his 
study,  where  he  would  sink  down  at  his  desk.  A  few  mo- 
ments of  rest,  and  then  you  would  have  seen  him  grasp 
his  pen  and  write ;  but  he  did  not  write  as  had  been  his 
wont.  The  pen  that  erst  had  moved  so  glibly  over  the 
page,  now  labored  heavily  on,  in  slow,  tedious,  uncertain 
measure  ;  the  marks  tremulous  and  cramped,  and  the  lines 
varying  sadly  in  their  course.     But  not  long,  —  you  would 


*  Among  Mr.  Cobb's  papers  I  find  a  somewhat  elaborate  arrangement  made 
for  a  book  on  the  "  Nature  of  Christ."  He  had  collated  a  series  of  his  pub- 
lished articles  on  that  subject,  and  I  can  see  how  he  had  left  the  connections  to 
be  made  for  bringing  them  properly  together.  It  would  liave  been  a  valuable 
work  had  he  lived  to  perfect  it. 


THE   MEMOIR.  507 

not  liixve  seen  him  labor  thus  a  great  while.  Poor,  tired 
nature  soon  became  exhausted,  aud,  with  looks  so  sad  that 
even  a  C3'nic  would  have  gazed  upon  the  scene  in  pity,  he 
allowed  the  loved  pen  to  drop  from  his  fingers  ;  and  then 
back  to  his  chamber  he  slowly  made  his  toilsome  way. 

It  was  very  hard  for  him  to  give  up  ;  but  the  end  was  at 
hand.  As  the  ripening  breath  of  Autumn  had  perfected 
the  blushing  fruit  and  the  golden  grain  for  the  garners  of 
the  husbandmen  ;  and  as  nature,  in  token  of  coming  rest, 
had  donned  the  sere  and  yellow  leaf  for  its  garb,  he  laid 
the  implements  of  his  toil  aside,  and  sat  down  to  quiet 
repose. 


508  r,EV.    SYLVANUS   COBBf   D.D. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

Influence  of  the  Wife,  —  Her  Characteristics,  — Cor- 
respondence, —  More  Heart-Treasures,  —  The  Moth 
ER,  —  Mr.  Cobb's   Universalism,  —  The  Purpose  and 
Power  of  God,  —  The  Saviour,  —  Relative  Degrees 
OF  Happiness  in  the  Future  State. 

I  NOW  approach  a  subject  which  lies  so  near  to  the  very 
centre  of  my  heart  that  I  must  needs  draw  forth  from  their 
sacred  repository  some  of  the  holiest  sentiments  and  emo- 
tions of  my  soul  for  the  gaze  of  the  world. 

Mr.  Cobb's  life-story  could  not  be  complete  without  some 
allusion  to  that  Companion  who  was  the  sharer  of  his  joys 
and  his  sorrows  ;  the  one  cherished  being  in  whom  all  his 
earthly  love  was  centered  ;  the  one  who  had  been  with  him, 
to  support,  to  cheer,  to  aid,  and  to  reverence,  for  four-and- 
forty  years. 

A  man  of  Mr.  Cobb's  temperament,  with  loves  so  strong, 
and  so  strongly  bound  to  his  home,  must  have  depended 
much  for  his  success  in  life  upon  the  character  and  disposi- 
tion of  his  wife.  Had  fortune,  in  the  morning  of  his  man- 
hood, bound  him  to  a  woman  who  could  not  have  won  and 
ever  retained  the  whole  of  his  confidence  and  esteem,  he 
could  not  have  been  the  man  he  was.  Or,  had  he  even 
taken  a  wife  who  could  have  failed  to  sympathize  with  him 
in  all  his  undertakings,  he  could  never  have  given  to  the 
world  the  rich  results  that  have  flowed  from  his  labors. 


THE   3IEM0IR.  509 

Mrs.  Cobb,  like  himself,  had  been  educated  during  child- 
hood in  the  strictest  school  of  Calvinistic  Orthodoxy  ;  and, 
like  himself,  she  had  come  forth  into  the  glorious  light  of 
the  Universalist  faith  through  her  own  instincts  and  re- 
searches. 

Mr.  Cobb  could  not  have  found  a  companion  better  suited 
to  his  heart  and  his  head.  In  those  years  he  had  gained 
little  polish,  and  he  found  in  Eunice  one  who  could  prize 
him  for  his  worth  ;  and  while  he  gave  to  her  the  support  of 
a  stout  heart,  a  firm  will,  and  a  strong  arm,  she  rendered  in 
return  not  only  the  priceless  love  of  a  pure  and  devoted 
heart,  but  she  did  much  by  her  own  native  gentleness  and 
delicacy  of  character  and  feeling  to  smooth  off  the  rough 
edges  of  habit  acquired  upon  the  farm  and  in  the  rural 
school-room,  and  to  bend  his  attention  a  little  more  care- 
fully to  the  adornments  of  the  outer  man.  The  world  has 
seen  Mr.  Cobb  at  his  work,  and  it  has  seen  what  he  has 
accomplished ;  but  the  world  may  never  know  how  much 
of  his  success  he  owed  to  the  influence  of  that  gentle,  faith- 
ful, true-hearted  being  whose  every  thought  and  aim  of  life 
centered  in  the  one  purpose  and  desire  to  make  home  pleas- 
ant and  attractive  to  her  husband  and  to  her  children. 
What  would  Mr.  Cobb  have  been  without  the  Home  of 
love  and  true  affection  ?  I,  who  know  how  keenly  sensitive 
he  was,  am  able  to  understand  that  "Clouds  at  Home" 
would  have  made  him  the  most  miserable  of  men.  But 
God  had  blessed  him,  and  ever  in  his  Home,  let  the  world 
without  darken  as  it  would,  he  was  sure  to  find  peace  and 

joy. 

And  no  man  could  more  fully  appreciate  the  blessing 

than  did  Mr.  Cobb.     The  reader  has  already  seen  some  of 

the  out  pourings  of  his  soul  in  this  direction,  and  I  will 

present  a  few  more  of  them.     The  following  I  do  not  tran- 

43* 


510  EEF.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

scribe  as  a  gem  of  poetical  excellence  and  beauty,  but  as  a 
heart-treasure,  beautiful  from  its  reflected  light.  If  it  is 
not  a  diamond,  it  is  at  least  a  mirror  upon  which  diamond 
flashes  are  reflected.  Mr.  Cobb  had  bidden  adieu  to  his 
wife  preparatory  to  starting  on  a  journey.  As  was  her 
custom,  founded  upon  a  determination  that,  so  far  as  la}^  in 
her  power,  he  should  never  bear  away  from  his  home  else 
than  the  memory  of  sunny  smiles,  slie  had  borne  up  bravely 
through  the  parting  —  had  kissed  him  and  blessed  him  with 
a  smile  upon  her  face  —  and  had  seen  him  depart.  And 
then,  when  she  fully  believed  he  had  gone,  she  bowed  her 
head  and  wept.  But  the  husband  had  forgotten  some  im- 
portant matter  which  called  him  back,  and  he  found  his 
wife  in  tears,  upon  which  circumstance  he  wrote  the  fol- 
lowing, — 

TO  MY  WIFE. 

1. 

What  was  tbat  crystal  fountain, 

Which,  on  that  parting  day, 
In  those  blue  eyes  was  gushing, 

As  I  had  turned  away  ? 
It  was  the  wife's  affection  ; 

It  was  the  fount  of  love  ; 
Pure  as  the  love  of  Heaven, 

The  fount  of  bliss  above. 

2. 

What  were  the  drops  then  trembling, 

Upon  those  lashes  hung, 
Soft  drops  of  dew  resembling. 

The  sunlit  boughs  among  ? 
Bright  pearls  they  were,  most  precious  — 

More  precious  far  to  me 
Than  gems  of  Orient  fountains. 

And  treasures  of  the  sea. 


THE   MEMOIR.  511 


What  was  the  light  soon  gleaming  — 

The  light  which  grief  beguiles  — 
The  light  whose  radiant  beaming 

Soon  changed  thy  tears  to  smiles  ? 
It  was  the  cultured  spirit^ 

The  philosophic  mind, 
Resolved  that  I,  when  absent, 

Should  mem'ry's  pleasure  find. 
Resolved  the  image  to  impress 
Of  pleasant,  smiling  cheerfulness. 


Sylvanus  Cobb. 


Malden,  Jan.  27,  1838. 


The  following  is  an  extract  of  a  letter  written  by  Mr. 
Cobb  from  the  "  Castle  of  Peace"  to  his  wife  who  was  at 
that  time  —  September,  1841  —  visiting  their  friends  in 
his  native  town  of  Norway.  Read  it,  and  see  into  what 
trains  of  thought  and  reflection  he  was  led  by  the  absence 
of  his  beloved.  Mark  the  deep,  pure  love  of  his  heart,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  the  instinctive  religiousness  of  his  nature. 
Such  words  are  a  sacred  treasure  to  the  lonely  wife  now  in 
her  hour  of  bereavement.  He  writes  how  affairs  are  going 
on  at  home  —  how  the  daughters  are  revealing  marvellous 
powers  of  housewifery,  and  how  the  boys  are  rugged  as 
usual,  and  how  he  tries  to  enjoy  himself  and  feel  content 
with  his  children  :  and  then  he  goes  on,  — 

"But  much,  very  much,  of  life  is  gone,  when  my  mind's  com- 
panion is  gone.  I  want  no  corporeal  presence  without  the 
mind,  and  there  is  no  other  mind  in  the  universe  that  can  take 
the  place  of  that  one  which  has  so  fully  mingled  and  assimilated 
itself  with  mine  own.  I  do  not  mean  to  dethrone  the  blessed 
Son  of  Mary.  The  place  you  occupy  has  the  smile  of  his  appro- 
bation. Our  souls  are  united,  not  by  a  legal  ceremony,  or  by 
the  policy  o'f  temporal  convenience,  but  by  a  spiritual  union  for 
eternity.     When  God  shall  have  kept  us  together  here  as  long 


512  BEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

as  he  has  any  good  for  our  united  labors  to  accomplish  on  earth, 
should  you  be  taken  hence,  and  raised  before  me  to  the  building 
of  God  on  high,  I  would  still  hold  communion  of  spirit  with  you 
there,  —  I  would  be  cheered  by  the  smiles  of  your  angelic  love, 
and  in  prayerful  meditation  I  would  be  often  partaking  of  your 
joy,  as  you  should  be  witnessing  increasing  developments  of  the 
Creator's  wisdom,  power,  and  goodness.  Or,  if  I  should  be 
called  to  leave  you  here  behind  me,  I  would  in  yonder  home 
commune  back  with  your  believing,  hoping  spirit,  and  have  a 
special  pleasure  in  the  thought  of  being  permitted  by  the  Master 
to  welcome  you  and  lead  you  in  that  field  of  glories,  when  you 
should  come  and  join  me." 

"  God  bring  you  in  safety  to  your  devoted  husband  and  loving 
children, 

"S.  Cobb." 

Even  then  Mr.  Cobb  was  a  Christian  spiritualist,  as  the 
reader  can  plainly  see ;  and  though  he  lived  more  than 
quarter  of  a  century  after  that  letter  was  written,  yet  I 
believe  he  never  made  an  advance  in  that  direction  beyond 
what  he  then  professed.  He  early  imbibed  the  glorious 
hopes  of  the  gospel,  and  thej^  were  full  to  overflowing  in 
their  richness  of  spiritual  gifts.  It  would  be  impossible  to 
over-estimate  the  love  which  Mr.  Cobb  bore  his  wife  ;  and 
never  did  he  fail  to  come  up  in  practice  to  what  his  lips 
and  his  pen  professed.  As  I  have  said  often  enough,  Mr. 
Cobb  was  not  a  poet ;  but  there  were  times  when  he  had  a 
strong  penchant  for  rhyming;  and  this  desire  generally 
manifested  itself  in  connection  with  his  sentiments  of  con- 
nubial and  paternal  love. 

I  can  say  that  Mr.  Cobb  not  only  fully  realized  the 
duties  required  at  the  hands  of  the  husband  towards 
making  home  all  that  it  should  be,  but  that  he  also  per- 
formed those  duties  trul}^  and  faithfully.  And  I  know  that 
his  wife  did  all  in  her  power  to  make  his  home  all  that  he 


THE  MEMOIR.  513 

would  have  it.  Yes  ;  to  his  wife  he  owed  the  heaven  that 
was  his  to  enjoy  upon  earth.  Sometimes  a  sense  of  edito- 
rial pro])riety  may  lead  a  man  to  express  sentiments  of 
esteem  that  he  could  not  well  account  for  in  fact ;  but  when 
we  come  to  his  private  letters,  we  are  pretty  sure  to  find 
his  heart  laid  bare,  especially  if  he  be  writing  to  one  who 
possesses  his  entire  confidence.  As  it  is  my  desire  to 
show  how  Mr.  Cobb's  life  was  influenced  by  the  circum- 
stances of  his  home,  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  quote  his 
own  convictions,  put  upon  paper,  at  times  when  the  emo- 
tions that  stirred  his  soul  were  his  only  guide.  And  I  do 
this  not  more  to  open  up  to  view  the  circumstances  that  in- 
fluenced him,  than  to  present  a  domestic  picture  which  may 
be  studied  and  copied  with  profit  by  others. 

The  following  extract  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Cobb  to  his 
wife  presents  another  of  those  heart-pictures  which  reveal 
the  inborn  goodness  and  native  grandeur  of  the  man. 
Mrs.  Cobb  was  at  that  time  on  a  visit  to  her  friends  in 
Hallowell,  and  little  Jimmy,  then  seven  years  of  age,  was 
with  her.  She  had  taken  the  trip  not  so  much  for  her  own 
pleasure  as  for  recuperating  the  failing  health  of  her  boy : 

"  Tlie  Consecrated  Castle^ 
*'  Sunday  evening. 

**  Precious  Wife,  —  I  have  been  to  meeting  this  afternoon, 
and  heard  Br.  Sebastian  Streeter.  Since  meeting  I  have  been 
reading  Prof.  Stuart  on  "  Conscience  and  the  Constitution,''''  *  *  !  — 
and  now,  for  a  little  genuine  pleasure,  I  must  turn  and  converse 
a  while  with  you. 

"  Well,  it  is  lonely  without  you,  but,  after  all,  it  is  blessed  to 
be  AT  HOME.  Some  how  or  other  there  is  a  peculiar  charm  in 
this  spot.  It  seems  like  a  paradise  ;  —  all  is  peace  and  serenity. 
It  is  truly  the  "  Castle  of  Peace,"  and  the  Angel  of  Peace  has 
taken  her  abode  here. 

*•  True,  there  is  a  lack  just  now.    When  I  come  over  from  my 


514  ItEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

oiiice,  I  cannot  look  up  and  ken  from  the  window,  or  at  the 
door,  that  countenance  of  countenances,  beaming  with  the  light 
of  intelligence  and  love ;  and  the  light  tread  and  affectionate 
greeting  and  converse  of  that  little  boy  Jimmy,  I  miss  exceed- 
ingly. But  I  do  not  indulge  melancholy  on  this  account,  because 
it  is  all  calculated  upon  as  a  duty  and  privilege  all  around. 
I  enjoy  your  company  in  spirit,  and  think  how  happy  you  are, 
with  that  little  star  of  hope  by  your  side,  greeting  your  old 
friends,  and  renewing  pleasant  acquaintance. 

"  Wife,  I  have  thought  with  a  great  deal  of  pleasure  on  the 
chief  subject  and  expression  of  your  letter  you  closed  for  me 
before  you  left  home.  Your  appreciation  of  your  own  im- 
provements, privileges,  and  blessings,  is  to  me,  observant  of 
the  same  facts,  a  rich  source  of  enjoyment.  But  in  regard  to 
the  few  words  you  say  of  my  harder  lot,  and  the  non-reception 
of  deserved  consideration,  I  take  pleasure  in  assuring  you  that 
I  enjoy  a  Christian  and  philosophical  view  of  this  matter.  So 
far  as  it  relates  to  the  public  in  general,  there  is  no  lack  of  as 
much  honor  as  my  merits  can  claim.  And  with  regard  to  cer- 
tain trials  to  which  you  refer,  I  decidedly  feel  that  they  were 
necessary  to  qualify  me  for  a  work  I  have  to  do.  I  clearly  see 
that  I  have  acquired  qualifications  by  my  business  difficulties 
and  hardships,  and  by  the  use  made  thereof  by  certain  persons, 
which  I  could  not  otherwise  have  acquired,  for  a  work  yet  before 
me.  You  and  I  shall  yet  see  and  know  it.  And  then  my  bur- 
dens have  all  along  been  made  light  by  the  consciousness  of 
rectitude  of  intention ;  by  a  firm  faith  in  the  wisdom  of  God's 
designs ;  by  the  noble  sentiments  and  kind  sympathies  of  such 
an  help  meet  as  few,  if  any,  other  men  are  blessed  with ;  and 
also  by  the  love  and  sympathy  of  the  whole  numerous  home 
circle.  Yes, — lam  more  than  blessed,  and  doubt  not  that  I 
shall  yet  be  able  to  do  more  than  I  have  yet  done  to  render 
blessed  the  valued  companion  of  my  joys  and  sorrows. 

******* 

"  I  miss  you  very  much  here  —  more  than  I  can  tell ;  but  yet 
1  would  not  have  you  hurry  home  on  that  account.  I  would 
have  you  feel  perfectly  contented,  and  fill  out  the  time  of  your 
contemplated  visits.  But  it  will  be  a  great  treat  to  receive  you 
when  3'ou  come.  All  the  children  send  love  to  you  and  Jimmy. 
Squeeze  him  for  me  —  the  darling  boy  ! 

"  Forever  thine,  "  Sylvanxjs." 


THE   MEMOIR.  515 

Such  was  the  Home  of  Sj^lvanns  Cobb  —  made  so,  in  a 
great  measure,  by  the  gentle  spirit  of  her  whom  he  called 
Wife. 

AViFE  !  —  Mother  !  —  How  sweet,  how  pure,  how  blessed 
her  influence !  To  her  husband  she  never  spoke  a  word 
unbecoming  her  station  ;  and  if,  in  the  other  j^ears,  she 
may  have  been  weak  and  at  fault  at  times,  her  faults  were 
only  such  as  bound  her  more  closely  to  the  heart  of  him 
whom  she  loved,  in  that  they  brought  her  to  his  stout 
bosom  for  strength  and  support.  When  he  went  forth 
from  his  home  she  gave  him  the  memory  of  smiles  to  be 
his  on  his  journej^ ;  and  when  he  returned  he  was  sure  to 
meet  that  same  blessed  smile  to  warm  and  cheer  his  heart. 
O,  wives,  what  a  crown  of  life  is  this  !  Show  me  the  hus- 
band who  knoivs  that  when  he  returns  to  his  home  the 
arms  of  his  wife  will  be  open  to  receive  him,  with  the 
warmth  of  smiles  upon  her  face,  and  I  will  show  to  you  a 
man  who  has  a  blessing  above  all  the  material  wealth  of 
earth.  And  I  know  that  such  a  blessing  was  his  whose 
Memoirs  I  write. 

Can  I  leave  this  subject  here?  Is  the  story  of  the  wife's 
influence  complete  until  we  know  how  she  performed  the 
duties  of  mother  to  his  children  ?  Mother  !  I  can 
write  it  in  a  sentence.  Three-and-forty  j'ears  have  I 
borne  the  blessed  privilege  of  calling  her  by  that  hal- 
lowed name ;  and  I  can  look  back  over  all  the  past 
of  my  life,  and  find  not  in  my  memory  one  single 
look,  word,  or  deed  of  hers  that  ever  gave  me  pain. 
During  all  the  years  of  my  life  she  never  spoke  to  me  a 
harsh  word  ;  she  never  did  to  me  a  pain-imparting  deed ; 
and  she  never  gave  me  to  feel  that  she  had  a  fault  laid  up 
in  her  memory  against  me.  And  yet  God  knows  her  heart 
has  ached  many  a  time  and  oft.      Did  I  say  she  had  never 


516  REV.    STLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

in  deed  given  me  pain?  O,  when  I  remember  how  she 
has  taken  me  to  her  bosom  and  imprinted  a  tearful  kiss 
where  many  another  would  have  placed  a  blow,  I  can  call 
to  mind  pangs  of  most  exquisite  pain.  But  they  were  such 
pangs  as  the  redeemed  may  feel  when  they  remember  how 
they  have  crucified  their  Saviour.  And  in  all  those  years 
I  can  remember  well  how  she  has  sought  to  lead  my  mind 
and  my  affections  np  to  Christ  and  God.  To  my  father  I 
owe  much,  —  as  much  as  mortal  child  ever  owed  to  an 
earthly  parent,  —  but  to  my  mother  I  owe  more  than  life. 
But  enough.  Within  the  depths  of  my  own  heart  let  my 
most  sacred  memories  of  my  mother  rest.  They  are  mine, — 
not  the  world's.  Mine  to  bless  and  cheer  with  emotions 
akin  to  heavenly  bliss  while  life  shall  last ! 

Such  a  Mother  could  not  but  make  a  happy  home  for  her 
husband.  Such  a  mother  could  not  but  command  the  con- 
fidence of  the  father ;  and  so  was  the  man  doubly  blessed 
in  the  possession.  Not  only  to  her  could  he  look  for  all 
the  joys  the  blessed  love  and  constancy  and  purity  of  a 
wife  can  give,  but  to  her  could  he  also  with  unwavering 
confidence  look  for  that  mild  and  gentle  influence  made  up 
of  all  the  Christian  graces,  which  should  be  safe  and 
healthful  guidance  for  his  children.  He  realized  it  all ; 
and  he  was  happ}^ ! 


At  the  commencement  of  these  memoirs  I  had  thought 
of  giving  a  full  chapter  to  a  consideration  of  the  subject  of 
Mr.  Cobb's  Universalism  ;  that  is,  its  kind  and  character. 
But  no  such  space  will  be  necessary.  The  reader  who  has 
read  thus  far  must  have  gathered  alreadj^  a  pretty  thorough 
idea  of  the  character  of  the  Universalism  which  Mr.  Cobb 
professed.  But  I  will  say  a  few  words,  to  give  in  brief,  the 
essential  points  of  his  doctrine. 


THE   MEMOIR.  517 

He  believed  that  God  had  a  Plan  in  view  when  he 
created  the  world,  and  placed  upon  it  children  of  his  own, 
after  his  own  image  ;  and  he  believed  that  that  Plan,  per- 
fected, was  to  redound  to  God's  glory  and  honor.  He 
believed,  furthermore,  that  God  entered  upon  the  work 
with  the  intent  and  purpose  of  securing  his  own  happiness 
in  the  grand  consummation.  And,  further  still,  he  believed 
that  God  intended,  when  he  created  man,  to  make  this 
mortal  immortal  in  joy  and  bliss,  to  partake  with  himself 
of  perfection. 

He  believed  that  God  had  the  Power  to  accomplish  that 
which  he  had  planned.  He  did  not  believe  that  in  the  very 
outset,  —  that  in  the  very  first  stroke  of  labor  upon  the 
highest  object  of  his  creation — God  made  a  woful  blunder 
which  was  to  convulse  the  whole  creation  with  disorder  and 
confoundment.  He  did  not  believe  that  the  Power  to 
create  was  put  in  operation  without  the  Wisdom  so  to  con- 
trive that  the  original  Plan  should  be  perfected.  No,  — he 
believed  that  God  had  not  only  the  wisdom  to  plan,  and 
the  power  to  create,  but  also  the  power  to  accomplish  all 
that  he  undertook. 

He  believed  that,  in  time,  as  had  been  appointed  from 
the  beginning,  God  sent  his  Son  Jesus  Christ  upon  the 
earth  to  be  a  teacher  unto  his  people,  and,  literally,  a 
Saviour,  —  a  Saviour  from  sin.  And  he  believed  that  the 
coming  of  Christ  was  a  part  of  the  great  original  Plan,  — 
one  of  the  instrumentalities  by  which  man  was  to  be  led  to 
the  Father.  He  believed  that  Christ  was  sent  to  do  a 
certain  share  of  the  work ;  that  he  was  sent  by  One  who 
knew  the  work  he  should  do,  and  who  endowed  him  with 
full  power  to  consummate  it.  So  God  was  in  Christ,  re- 
deeming the  world  to  himself. 

He  believed  that  now,  upon  the  coming  of  Christ,  the 
44 


518  BEV.    SYLVANUS     COBJi,   D.D. 

whole  Gospel  Scheme  was  revealed  in  its  beauty  and  gran- 
deur. That  Scheme  did  not  contemplate  a  partial  doing 
of  the  work  of  redemption  ;  but  it  contemplated  an  entire 
and  thorough  consummation.  Upon  the  professed  Chris- 
tian who  should  have  declared  that  the  Father  only  con- 
templated the  saving  of  a  part  of  his  children  through  the 
mission  of  his  Son  Mr.  Cobb  would  have  looked  with  pity 
and  commiseration  ;  and  upon  the  professed  Christian  who 
should  have  declared  that  God  and  Christ  combined  could 
not  accomplish  all  they  desired  he  would  have  gazed  with 
sorrow  and  amazement. 

Mr.  Cobb  believed  that  all  would  be  accomplished  just 
exactly  as  God  had  planned  that  it  should  be  accomplished, 
when,  in  the  morning  of  creation,  he  stretched  forth  his 
hand  to  commence  the  work.  And  since  a  Being  of  Infinite 
Wisdom  and  Love  had  laid  the  plan,  he  believed  that  that 
plan  must  look  to  a  consummation  of  Universal  joy  and 
blessedness,  so  that  the  Father  himself  might  be  blessed  in 
the  perfection  of  his  works.  And  since  a  Being  of  Infinite 
Power  had  taken  the  plan  in  hand,  he  believed  the  end 
would  be  accomplished. 

And  so  Mr.  Cobb  was  a  Universalist. 

There  is  an  important  point  upon  which  there  is  diversity 
of  opinion  among  even  the  clergymen  of  the  Universalist 
denomination.  That  is  :  How  shall  men  be  raised  ?  With 
what  sort  of  spirits  shall  they  enter  upon  the  higher  life  ?  Or, 
how  far  may  the  circumstances  of  the  earthly  life  aflfect  the 
entrance  upon  the  heavenly  ? 

In  the  first  place,  Mr.  Cobb  could  not  believe  in  any- 
thing like  punishment  in  the  higher  state,  because  that 
would  involve  the  necessity  of  sin  there  ;  since  a  just  and 
merciful  God  would  not  inflict  punishment  after  the  child 
had  lost  the  desire  and  capacity  to  sin.     In  the  second 


THE   MEMOIR.  519 

place,  he  did  not  believe  that  there  could  be  any  degrees 
of  nearness  to  the  Father  established  by  the  Father  himself, 
whatever  might  result  from  the  various  abilities  of  individ- 
uals to  comprehend  the  value  and  glory  of  Godlike  charac- 
ter. In  short,  he  believed  that  all  would  be  raised  in  a 
state  of  happiness  —  of  happiness  to  them  perfect  in  itself, 
and  as  refined  and  extensive  as  they  were  capable  of  enjoy- 
ing ;  but,  as  he  believed  in  eternal  progression,  of  course 
he  admitted  that  there  were  grades  of  bliss-imparting  knowl- 
edge to  be  gained,  and  still  gained,  by  the  wisest  and  the 
best. 

For  instance  :  The  poor  inebriate,  sunk  in  the  very  low- 
est depths  of  vice  and  debauchery  —  his  lips  profane,  and 
his  every  word  a  curse  —  his  frame  shattered,  and  his  soul 
a  wreck  —  his  home  dark,  drear,  and  desolate,  and  his  wife 
and  children  crushed  and  broken-hearted.  See  that  man, 
at  midnight,  reeling  forth  from  the  tavern,  so  beastly  drunk 
that  his  senses  are  gone,  and  his  limbs  refuse  their  office. 
Out  into  the  stormy  night  he  staggers,  and  after  struggling 
a  while  in  his  uncertain  way,  he  sinks  by  the  wayside  — 
sinks,  he  knows  not  where  —  and  his  stupor  holds  him  there 
upon  the  cold,  wet  earth  until  morning.  Suppose  that  poor 
wretch  had  died  during  that  night  of  storm  and  exposure  — 
suppose  in  that  drunken  state  he  had  passed  from  earth  to 
another  world  —  what  would  have  been  his  condition  there  ? 
Here  is  opportunity  for  difference  of  opinion.  What  would 
God  have  done  with  that  poor,  wayward,  misguided  soul  ? 
Different  clergymen  might  give  3'ou  different  answers. 

But  mark  !  In  the  morning  the  wretched  man  awakens 
from  bis  stupor,  and  at  length  he  sits  up  and  gazes  around. 
Behold  where  his  struggling  instinct  —  perhaps  some  kind 
guardian  spirit  —  had  led  him.  In  the  dim  grey  light  of 
morning  he  sees  a  white  slab  of  marble,  and  upon  it  the 


620  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB^   D.D. 

name  of  her  who  first  on  earth  had  pressed  him  to  her 
bosom  and  loved  him.  H^  had  slept  his  drunken  sleep 
upon  his  mother's  grave  !  Who  shall  picture  the  emotions 
that  stirred  that  suifering  soul  ?  There  is  no  need.  Suffice 
it  to  say  that  he  arose  from  that  spot,  after  prayer  and 
supplication,  with  the  solemn  vow  sent  up  to  God,  through 
the  spirit  of  his  sainted  mother,  that  he  would  henceforth 
be  all  that  a  true  man,  as  husband  and  father  and  citizen, 
should  be.  And  then  he  went  to  his  home,  and  told  to  his 
wife  and  his  children  the  story  of  his  night's  adventure,  and 
told  to  them  what  he  had  done.  And  he  asked  them  to  be 
kind  to  him,  and  to  trust  him  once  more,  and  love  him.* 
What  was  the  wife's  answer  to  that  appeal  ?  Did  she  hold 
her  husband  off,  and  tell  him  that  his  joy  must  not  com- 
mence quite  yet  ?  Or  was  heaven  opened  upon  that  house- 
hold in  that  hour,  and  joy  ecstatic  their  portion?  How 
long  was  it  before  that  man  sent  forth  from  his  deepest  soul 
a  prayer  of  praise  and  blessing  ? 

And  would  God  have  been  less  kind  than  was  this  poor 
stricken  wife,  who  had  sufiered  so  much  at  the  husband's 
cruel  hand  ?  And  would  Heaven  have  been  less  fraught 
with  blessed  influence  than  was  that  man's  earthly  home 
of  poverty  and  want  ? 

So  much  from  my  own  pen  by  way  of  showing  how  Mr. 
Cobb  regarded  the  sinner's  entrance  into  Heaven.  But 
how  is  it  with  the  sentient  Scofl'er  and  Atheist?  Here  is 
an  extract  from  one  of  Mr.  Cobb's  "  Rambling  Cogita- 
tions" which  is  to  the  point :  — 

•'Imagine,  now,  that  our  philosopher,  whom,  for  the  sake  of 
convenience,  we  will  call  Cyrus,  having  jDassed  from  earth  into 
the  spirit  land,  witnesses  the  entrance  there  of  one  who,  on 

*  An  actual  occurrence  within  the  writer's  own  knowledge.  And  the  man  thus 
saved  was  instrumental  in  saving  many  others. 


THE  MEMOIR,  521 

earth,  and  to  the  close  of  life,  was  an  Atheist,  and  a  sensualist. 
Cyrus  is  astounded  to  see  that  once  atheistic  sinner  glowing 
with  the  inspiration  of  sublime  and  elevating  thought,  as  he 
knows  the  blessed  truth  of  life  from  the  dead,  and  the  being  and 
glory  of  God,  and  most  of  those  glorious  truths  which  the  gos- 
pel reveals  to  the  believing  soul  on  earth.  And  as  he  looks,  and 
beholds,  and  meditates,  and  admires,  he  breaks  out  into  a  sono* 

7  7  7  Q 

of  praise  and  prayer,  —  *  O  God,  from  whose  love  I  have  been 
alienated  through  the  ignorance  that  was  in  me,  thy  wonderful 
working  has  dissipated  that  darkness,  and  I  know  ih^thou  art! 
And  life  immortal,  which  my  dark  soul  could  not  anticipate,  O, 
gracious  God,  thou  hast  given  it  to  me,  and  I  shall  congratulate 
the  loved  of  earth,  whom  I  had  supposed  to  be  lost  in  utter 
death.  I  am  full  of  humble  thankfulness !  Father,  accept  the 
humble  gift,  myself  to  thee,  through  Jesus  Christ  my  Lord.  O, 
guide  me  evermore,  in  this  boundless  field  of  glories.' 

"'Hold,  hold!  exclaims  the  critical  philosopher  in  heaven. 
You,  Mr.  Atheist,  are  making  naught  of  my  philosoph3^  Visible 
to  you  as  is  the  being  of  God,  and  thrilling  to  you  as  is  the  fact 
of  immortal  life,  and  the  infinite  grace  of  your  Father  in 
heaven,  you  must  be  an  atheist,  and  a  sensualist,  and  a  scoffer, 
for  a  season,  here  in  this  world  of  spirit  life,  and  heavenly 
glory.'  And  he  lifts  up  his  voice  in  supplication,  '  Lord,  if  thou 
wilt  vindicate  thine  own  honor,  and  my  j)hilosophy,  exert  thine 
''arbitrary''''  force  upon  this  repentant  and  loving  soul,  and 
quench  his  joy,  and  silence  his  praise,  and  compel  him  to  remain 
a  decent  term  of  years,  in  the  darkness  of  atheism,  and  the  hell 
of  sensualism.' 

"  Then  appears  the  Son  of  God,  and  he  kindly  instincts  the 
upbraiding  philosopher.  'Cyrus,'  says  the  Master,  'I  have 
somewhat  to  say  to  thee.'  And  he  said.  Master,  say  on. 
•  There  was  a  certain  creditor  which  had  two  debtors ;  the  one 
owed  five  hundred  pence,  and  the  other  fifty.  And  when  they 
had  nothing  to  pay,  he  frankly  forgave  them  both.  Tell  me, 
therefore,  which  of  them  will  love  him  most?'  And  Cyrus 
answered  and  said,  '  I  suppose  that  he  to  whom  he  forgave 
most.'  And  he  said  unto  him,  '  Thou  hast  rightly  judged.'  And 
then  the  philosopher  bowed  with  reverence  to  the  Master,  and 
cheerfully  joined  with  the  converted  atheist,  born  into  the  spirit 
44* 


522  EEV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

life,  mingling  souls  in  praise  to  God  who  giveth  such  gifts  to 
men." 

To  sum  up  the  whole  in  a  very  few  words,  Mr.  Cobb  was 
entirely  and  practically  a  Universalist  ;  and  the  hopes 
which  he  held  for  himself  he  held  for  every  son  and  daugh- 
ter of  Adam.  Prayer  he  held  to  be  a  solemn  duty  and  a 
blessed  privilege  ;  and  through  all  his  life  ;  for  himself  and 
for  others ;  in  weal,  or  in  woe ;  when  the  heavens  opened 
with  brightest  promise,  or  when  clouds  and  storm  were 
upon  him ;  he  could  look  trustingly  and  confidingly  up  to 
his  Father  in  Heaven,  and  devoutly  pray  —  "  Thy  will  be 
DONE  1 " 


THE  MEMOIR,  523 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Concluding  Summary  op  Character,  —  His  Powers  as  a 
Writer  and  as  a  Speaker,  —  His  Position  in  the 
Denomination, —  His  Closing  Hours,  —  Sickness  and 
Struggles,  —  "I  have  tried  to  be  a  Faithful  Ser- 
vant OF  the  Lord  !  "  —  The  New  Life. 

Dear  Reader,  —  Surely  there  can  be  need  that  I  should 
say  but  little  more  concerning  Mr.  Cobb's  general  charac- 
teristics and  habits.  It  has  been  my  aim  in  the  foregoing 
pages  to  present  the  various  features  and  points  of  his 
character  as  the  course  of  his  active  life  has  developed 
them.  It  is  sometimes  the  custom  of  the  biographer  to 
devote  a  large  space  towards  the  close  of  the  work  to  an 
estimate  of  the  various  qualities  —  intellectual,  social, 
moral,  and  religious  —  of  his  subject ;  but  I  trust  the 
reader,  who  has  travelled  with  me  thus  far,  is  able,  at  this 
stage,  to  make  the  full  estimate  ^or  himself.  In  fact,  I 
stated  in  the  commencement  much  that  I  intended  to  show 
in  the  Memok  ;  and  now  the  question  is,  Have  I  shown  it  ? 
I  can  only  answer,  —  I  have  so  striven. 

As  I  desire  to  present  in  these  pages  a  few  of  the  esti- 
mates which  others  have  expressed  concerning  Mr.  Cobb's 
peculiar  traits  and  powers,  there  is  no  need  that  I  should 
occupy  space  with  any  further  analysis  of  those  points.  I 
think  it  has  been  most  conclusively  shown  that  the  subject 
of  our  Memoir  was  a  man  of  wondrous  power,  and  with 
tongue  or  pen  he  was  equally  able  to  impress  his  thoughts 


524  EEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB^    D.D. 

upon  the  minds  of  others.  lie  never  arose  to  speak,  nor 
did  he  sit  down  to  write,  until  he  had  mastered  his  sub- 
ject, and  as  he  never  uttered  a  word  of  support  save  in 
behalf  of  what  he  sincerely  believed  to  be  right,  nor  a  word 
of  condemnation  save  against  that  which  in  the  very 
depth  of  his  moral  sentiment  he  believed  to  be  wrong,  it 
was  not  an  easy  matter  to  overcome  him  in  argument. 

No  man  could  have  possessed  more  fully  the  confidence 
and  esteem  of  a  denomination  than  did  Mr.  Cobb.  Wher- 
ever he  had  preached,  and  was  known,  he  was  looked  up  to 
as  a  teacher  and  a  father  ;  and  from  him  his  friends  were 
alwaj^s  willing  to  receive  counsel  and  instruction.  His 
words  were  not  only  eagerly  listened  to,  but  they  were 
treasured  up  for  use  and  application.  And  especially  was 
this  the  case  towards  the  close  of  his  life,  after  he  had  left 
the  Chair  Editorial.  Then,  when  his  thoughts  came  no 
longer  forth  from  week  to  week,  the  brethren  of  the  house- 
hold of  faith  were  glad  when  they  had  opportunity  to  gain 
lessons  of  wisdom  from  his  lips. 

And  this  is  the  boy  we  have  seen  sitting  by  the  old 
kitchen  fire-place,  away  off  in  a  new  and  wild  country, 
studying  his  lessons  by  the  light  of  the  blazing  logs.  This 
is  the  boy  who  asked  his  father  for  a  grammar,  and  was 
told  in  reply  that  such  a  thing  would  be  of  no  use  to  liim! 
This  is  the  boy  who  had  the  will  to  improve  ;  who  had  the 
courage  ever  to  do  right ;  who  never  shrank  from  maintain- 
ing that  right,  let  the  opposition  come  from  what  source  it 
might ;  who  commenced  life  with  the  determination,  set 
foremost  in  every  thought  and  plan,  to  be  a  Man  ;  and 
who  pursued  his  purpose  boldly,  steadily,  and  industri- 
ously^, to  the  end.  All  that  he  was  he  owed  to  his  God 
and  his  own  endeavors  ;  and  his  life  is  well  worth  the 
studying  and  imitating  by  the  youth  of  our  land. 


THE  MEMOIR,  525 

After  leaving  the  editorial  cliair  he  became  engaged  in  a 
somewhat  extensive  and  important  business  which  required 
his  occasional  attendance  at  the  office  of  the  company  in 
New  York,  and  he  continued  to  attend  to  the  publishing  and 
sale  of  his  bo9ks,  and  to  the  business  of  the  compan}^,  with- 
out experiencing  any  difficulty  which  he  was  willing  to  ac- 
knowledge as  such,  until  the  Spring  of  1866.  On  the  last 
of  April  he  went,  alone,  on  business  to  Pennsylvania  ;  and  I 
find  entered  in  my  mother's  diary  the  following,  under  date 
of  '■''Sunday^  May  Qth, —  My  dear  husband  returned  this 
morning  safe  and  happy.  He  came  from  New  York  last 
evening  in  the  Stonington  boat.  He  stood  his  journey  well, 
and  appears  very  well  and  strong."  On  the  20th  he  preached 
in  Canton,  as  the  reader  has  already  been  informed,  and 
returned  rather  better,  he  thought,  "  of  a  cold  that  had  been 
troubling  him  for  some  time  "  !  But  on  the  next  day  after 
his  return — the  22d  —  his  wife's  diary  bears  record  that 
the  i^reaching  must  have  been  bad  for  him,  for  his  "  cold  is 
worse."  On  the  last  day  of  the  month  was  held  the  Uni- 
versalist  "  Conference  and  Prayer  Meeting,"  which  Mr. 
Cobb  was  very  anxious  to  attend,  but  his  weakness  forbade. 
On  the  following  day  he  sent  a  note  to  Rev.  A.  A.  Miner, 
bearing  words  of  cheer  and  blessing  to  the  brethren  ;  and 
at  the  close  thereof  he  writes  :  "  By  God's  favor  my  health 
is  improving.  I  trust  he  has  yet  some  good  for  me  to  do 
in  co-operation  with  you  all."  He  could  not  believe  that  his 
health  was  failing ;  and  yet  at  that  very  season  his  wife  was 
continually  praying  —  and  I  read  the  prayers  in  her  diary 
—  "  O  God  !  in  mercy  spare  him  unto  me  !  " 

After  the  first  of  June  Dr.  Cobb  sank  rapidly,  and  very  low ; 
and  it  was  now  that  Dr.  Thorndike,  a  physician  whose  judg- 
ment and  skill  are  of  the  very  highest  standard,  and  whose 
diagnosis  based  upon  external  symptoms,  is  about  as  sure 


526  REV,    SYLVANVS     COBB,   D.D. 

as  are  the  facts  revealed  by  an  autopsy,  came  in  and  made 
a  critical  and  thorough  examination.  He  decided  th^  there 
was  a  most  emphatic  hypertrophy  of  the  heart!  He  not 
only  found  symptoms  of  an  enlargement  of  the  heart,  but 
he  also  decided  that  there  must  be  trouble  with  one,  or 
more,  of  the  valves.  It  was  hard  to  believe  this  —  very  hard. 
Might  there  not  be  some  mistake?  But  the  doctor  shook 
his  head.  The  disease  was  there,  and  the  most  that  could 
be  done  was,  if  possible,  to  lift  the  system  over  it  for  a 
while  longer.  And  to  that  end  such  medications  and  invig- 
orating agents  were  given  as  would  be  likely  to  overcome 
the  tendency  to  inefficient  nutrition  ;  and  after  a  time  Mr. 
Cobb  rallied.  Other  medical  counsel  was  sought  to  consult 
with  Dr.  Thorndike,  and  the  opinion  was  \}\xt  forth  by  one 
who  stands  high  in  the  profession,  that  there  was  no  organic 
disease  of  the  heart.  This  gave  the  sufferer  great  hope ; 
but  it  could  not  save  him.  His  regularly  attending  physi- 
cian. Dr.  T.,  knew  very  well  what  was  the  matter,  and  pre- 
scribed accordingl3^  During  the  months  of  August  and 
September  Mr.  Cobb  visited  the  city-proper  several  times, 
not  only  attending  to  business  at  his  office,  but  visiting  the 
Publishing  House  and  conversing  with  the  brethren  there 
assembled ;  and  occasionally  on  these  visits,  some  theme 
would  be  brought  into  discussion  that  served  to  draw  a 
little  of  the  old  fire  from  his  soul.  Towards  the  latter  part 
of  September  he  had  so  far  regained  his  strength  that  He 
planned  a  visit  to  New  York,  and  then  he  was  coming  down 
to  visit  the  home  of  the  writer,  in  his  native  town  of  Nor- 
way ;  and  he  wrote  to  me,  making  me  acquainted  with  his 
plan. 

On  the  first  day  of  October,  in  company  with  his  wife, 
and  with  the  consent  of  his  physician,  but  with  many  ad- 
monitions from  this  latter  personage,  he  went  to  New  York, 


THE  MEMOIR.  527 

transacting  some  business  there,  and  also  visiting  his  twin 
sons  in  Newark.  He  reached  home  on  the  fifth  of  the 
month,  trying  to  make  himself  believe  that  he  had  sustained 
no  great  fatigue  ;  and  on  the  following  day  he  wrote  to  me 
that  he  should  be  with  me  on  the  next  Wednesday.  But 
when  I  received  his  letter,  and  marked  the  tremulousness 
of  the  hand  in  the  straying,  straggling,  struggling  words,  I 
said  to  my  wife  :  "  My  father  will  not  come  !  " 

And  so  it  proved.  The  frame  was  shattered  and  sinking, 
and  its  strength  was  once  more  departing.  On  the  9th  of 
this  month  of  October  he  bade  his  wife  to  write  that  he 
could  not  come  then ;  but  that  he  would  come  next  June, 
when  all  was  beautiful  and  fresh  in  our  pleasant  country 
abode.  On  the  morning  of  the  12th  he  went  over  to  the 
city  ;  but  the  effort  was  exhausting  ;  and  he  went  not  from 
his  home  again  in  the  flesh  ! 

After  that,  he  complained  of  sleepless  nights,  and  of 
painful  unrest.  Opiates  were  resorted  to,  but  with  little 
effect.  Mr.  Cobb  held  them  in  horror,  dreading  the  result 
of  their  continuance  to  the  forming  of  habit.  From  this 
time  he  grew  w^orse,  and  the  symptoms  were  alarming.  It 
was  evident  to  his  medical  attendants  that  he  could  not 
again  revive.  His  distress  increased ;  he  gained  no  rest 
in  recuperative  sleep ;  and  the  system  was  slowly  and 
surely  sinking.  On  the  21st,  he  was  assisted  to  the  dining- 
room,  where  he  sat  down  to  dinner  with  the  famil}^  This 
was  on  Sunday.  In  his  old  accustomed  seat  at  the  board, 
in  accents  grown  weak  and  faltering,  but  with  spirit  as 
strong  in  hope  and  faith  as  ever,  he  raised  his  voice  in 
prayer  and  supplication,  not  forgetting  to  return  thanks  to 
the  Giver  of  all  good  for  the  manifold  blessings .  he  had  so 
long  enjoyed.  That  old  familiar  custom  of  prayer !  He 
never  omitted  it  for  a  day  at  his  home  whei:  he  was  there. 


528  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,   D.D. 

The  custom  of  almost  half  a  century.  His  praj^er  ascended 
from  the  old  place  on  that  holy  Sabbath  day,  and  he  never 
sat  at  that  board  again ! 

How  fondly  we  cherish  the  memory  of  the  incidents  of 
those  last  da3^s  !  Adjoining  his  chamber  was  the  apart- 
ment of  his  daughter  Haley,  where,  when  able,  he  would  go 
for  social  converse  with  those  who  might  be  assembled 
there.  He  bent  his  tottering  steps  to  her  room  on  the 
25th,  and  gazed  once  more  out  upon  the  green  carpet  that 
yet  covered  the  beautiful  inclosure  of  Belmont,  gazed  off 
upon  the  distant  walls  and  spires  of  the  great  city,  and 
then  returned  to  his  chamber,  —  returned  to  come  not  forth 
again  until  the  angel  should  come  to  give  him  conduct  to 
that  sphere  where  pain  and  unrest  are  known  no  more  for- 
ever. 

After  this,  he  became  aware  that  his  end  was  approach- 
ing, though  he  refrained  from  speaking  of  dying.  There 
was  something  peculiar  in  his  course  in  this  respect.  In 
all  his  conversation  upon  the  subject  he  avoided  the  least 
allusion  to  death  as  an  earthly  change,  and  would  listen  to 
no  remarks  bent  in  that  direction.  Thoughts  upon  what 
the  world  calls  Death,  with  its  accompaniment  of  "  dark 
rivers,"  and  "  silent  tombs,"  did  not  seem  to  occupy  his 
mind ;  but,  all  the  while,  fully  conscious  that  the  end  was 
approaching,  and  calmly  willing  to  prepare  his  business 
therefor,  his  every  expression  gave  token  of  coming  from 
one  who  saw  only  the  gates  of  Eternal  Day  invitingly  open 
before  him. 

To  him  there  may  have  been  no  such  thing  as  d3dng.  I 
have  thought  that  he  did  not  so  regard  the  change  which 
he  knew  was  at  hand.  He  had  seen  his  darling  Jimmy, 
and  he  promised  that  he  would  tell  what  he  had  said  to 
him ;  but  he  was  weak  then,  and  put  it  off  to  another  time. 


THE   MEMOIR,  529 

Yes,  he  had  thought  only  of  passing  out  from  that  weak, 
broken  body  into  the  realm  of  the  bright  Unseen.  He 
may  have  wondered  if  there  would  be  much  pain  in  the 
rending  of  soul  and  body ;  and  he  may  have  shrank  from 
talking  of  that  event  which  men  call  death,  but  which  to 
him  was  only  an  approaching  severing  of  bonds  that  had 
become  weighty  and  burdensome. 

That  such  were  Mr.  Cobb's  ideas  of  death  may  be  seen 
by  the  following  beautiful  poem,  clipped  from  a  periodical, 
and  placed  by  him  in  his  wife's  diary  but  a  few  days  before 
his  departure,  and  which  she  found,  as  he  probably  in- 
tended she  should,  after  he  had  walked 

"That  starry  stairway 

Leading  to  Jehovah's  throne  : " 

"I  SHALL  NOT  DIE,  BUT  LIVE. 

"  Tell  me  not,  ye  cold-eyed  mortals. 
Tell  me  not,  ye  souls  of  gloom, 
That  Death  comes  a  midnight  monster, 
Blasting  every  earthly  bloom; 
Though  the  clasp  of  death  be  icy, 
Willingly  this  frame  I'll  give, 
For  a  Saviour's  voice  hath  told  mo 
That  '  I  shall  not  die,  but  live.' 

"  No,  I  will  not  dress  in  mourning 
All  the  golden  gifts  of  God, 
Hope  shall  shed  her  sunbeams  o'er  me, 
Faith  shall  be  my  staff  and  rod. 
Death  shall  be  a  beauteous  angel, 
And  thrice  blest  this  earthly  goal ; 
Death  but  buries  up  the  body. 
Life  entombs  the  living  soul. 

*'  When  my  days  on  earth  are  numbered. 
Weep  not  where  my  dust  is  sown, 
I  shall  walk  the  starry  stairway 
Leading  to  Jehovah's  throne. 
Have  I  not  the  glorious  promise  ? 
Christ  arose,  and  I  believe ; 
45 


530  liEV.    SYLVAKUS     COBB^    D.D. 

Oh,  I  thank  thco,  Holy  Father, 
That  '  I  shall  not  die,  but  live.  '  " 

Never,  in  all  his  pulpit  exercises,  did  more  beautiful  and 
inspiring  prayers  ascend  from  his  lips  than  were  uttered  by 
him  while  he  la}^  upon  that  djang  bed.  On  one  occasion 
he  prayed  with  a  fervor  and  power  that  seemed  the  offspring 
of  more  than  ordinary  strength  of  body  and  mind. 

In  giving  an  account  of  the  closing  scenes,  I  cannot  do 
better  than  cop3^  the  following  extracts  of  a  letter  from  my 
sister  Haley,  who,  through  all  her  father's  sickness, ^was  as 
an  attendant  angel  of  mercy  by  his  side,  ever  ready  to 
answer  his  slightest  wish  ;  anticipating  his  graver  needs  ; 
and  takino;  no  thouo-ht  of  comfort  to  self  while  she  could 
render  the  slightest  service  to  the  sufferer.  These  offices 
she  shared  with  her  mother  ;  and  to  that  dear  mother,  also, 
in  .her  seasons  of  greatest  alarm  and  fear,  she  was  a  messen- 
ger of  peace  and  hope.  God  will  bless  that  faithful  child 
for  all  she  has  done  of  good  in  that  household.  Little 
Jimmy  fell  asleep  upon  Haley's  bosom  ;  and  our  precious 
Sarah,  during  all  her  long  sickness,  found  an  attending 
angel  in  that  same  sweet  sister !  Ah,  Haley,  are  not  the 
richest  rewards  that  earth  can  give,  or  that  Heaven  can 
bestow  upon  the  child  of  earth,  already  thine  ! 

As  will  be  seen  by  these  extracts,  even  while  the  strug- 
gling spirit  was  bursting  its  bonds  of  earth,  the  loving 
daughter  fancied  the  earth-life  was  gaining  new  hold  upon 
its  shattered  tabernacle  of  clay.  The  letter  was  written 
somewhat  in  the  form  of  a  diary,  and  to  me  it  was  the 
bearer  of  blessed  lessons  :  — 

"Castle  of  Peace, 
"October  29,  1866. 
*'My  Darling  Brother,  —  Knowing  how  anxiously   you 
must  Avatch  for  tidings  of  our  precious  father,  I  steal  ffOm  his 
room  to  talk  a  while  with  you." 


THE  MEMOIR.  531 

"  Since  Saturday  father's  mind  has  wandered  much  of  the  time. 
He  has  had  brief  intervals  of  consciousness,  but  his  senses  are 
mostly  prone  to  this  wandering  state,  caused,  the  doctor  says, 
by  the  water  having  reached  the  brain. 

*'  Yesterday  was  a  blessed  day  to  us  all,  and  I  would  that  you 
could  have  been  with  us.  Father  seemed  in  much  closer  com- 
munion with  Heaven  than  with  earth.  Peaceful,  trustful,  and 
happy,  he  converted  his  bed  of  suffering  into  an  altar  of  prayer 
and  praise.  Now  he  would  be  engaged  in  prayer  —  then  preach- 
ing to  a  congregation  from  the  text :  — '  O  that  men  would 
praise  the  Lord  for  his  goodness,  and  for  his  wonderful  works  to 
the  children  of  men ; '  and,  in  tones  of  pathetic  sweetness,  he 
repeated  nearly  the  whole  of  Psalm  CVII.  At  night,  when  I 
took  his  tea  to  him,  he  thought  himself  surrounded  by  the  Breth- 
ren,  and  would  not  taste  his  tea  until  I  had  assured  him  that  the 
Brethren  were  all  provided  for ;  and,  then,  not  a  sip  would  he 
take  until  he  had  lifted  up  his  voice  in  prayer  and  thankfulness 
to  God  for  mercies  received ;  as  you  and  I,  Vaney,  have  been 
wont  to  hear  him  for  so  many  years  when  seated  at  that  old 
family  table, 

'*  Last  night,  for  the  first  time  since  father's  illness,  we  per- 
suaded mother  to  leave  him  to  take  her  rest.  We  insisted  upon 
this,  knowing  that  she  could  not  endure  constant  watching ;  and 
father  needs  the  bright  and  cheerful  face  of  his  '  Guardian 
Angel,'  as  he  terms  her,  and  which  she  truly  is  to  him.  So  La 
Fay  watched  with  our  dear  one,  who  passed  a  restless  night, 
sleeping  but  little,  so  great  was  his  labor  for  breath. 

"  This  afternoon,  as  I  stood  by  father's  bedside,  he  looked  up 
with  a  light  upon  his  countenance  that  seemed  almost  divine, 
and,  with  yearning  earnestness  he  said,  — 

♦♦  '  I  HAVE  TRIED  TO  BE  A  FAITHFUL  SERVANT  OF  THE  LORD  ! ' 

"  Eben  and  Jennie  have  been  over  to-day.  Father's  face 
lighted  up  when  he  saw  Jennie ;  and  when  Eben  went  to  the 
bedside,  father  took  both  his  hands  in  his,  and  held  them  for  two 
or  three  moments  in  perfect  silence,  his  eyes  hfted  Heaven- 
ward, as  though  giving  a  father's  last  blessing  to  his  boy.  It 
was  a  touching  scene  upon  which  we  all  looked  with  tear-filled 
eyes. 


532  liEV.    SYLVANUS    COBB^    D.D. 

*'  Tuesday  eve.,  oOih.  'Last  night  George  watehed  with  our 
precious  father,  who  passed  quite  a  comfortable  night.  To-day 
the  labor  for  breath  has  been  more  severe,  but  the  dear  one  is 
easier  to-night.  We  thought  this  noon  of  telegraphing  for  you 
and  the  twins ;  but  he  seems  much  better  again.  The  doctor 
says  he  is  no  worse  ;  and  though  he  gives  us  no  hope  of  his  re- 
covery, we  cannot  heli^  thinking  that  the  Supreme  Father  may 
spare  him  to  us  yet  a  while  longer. 

"This  morning  when  Tucker  came  in  before  leaving  for  the 
city,  father,  for  the  first  time,  failed  to  recognize  him ;  but  he 
soon  rallied  from  this  state,  and  when,  towards  noon,  Uncle 
Samuel  Locke,  who  came  over  to  see  him,  entered  his  room,  he 
knew  him  at  once,  and  greeted  him  with  his  accustomed  cor- 
diality. Br.  White  also  called  this  noon ;  he  recognized  him  at 
once,  and  after  greeting  him,  said,  *  You  remember  what  I  said 
to  you  last  spring,  when  you  called  on  me,  Br.  White  ? '  (This 
was  an  exhortation  for  him  to  be  faithful  to  his  trust  as  a  minis- 
ter of  the  blessed  Gospel.)  This  afternoon  his  mind  has  been 
wandering  most  of  the  time,  but  always  on  pleasant  themes. 
Now  he  was  back  in  the  pulpit,  with  an  audience  before  him, 
preaching  as  of  old;  anon  he  was  holding  argument  with  a 
doubter  of  his  faith ;  then  gradually  he  seemed  to  come  nearer 
and  nearer  to  his  Lord,  and  his  voice  was  tuned  to  prayer  and 
praise.  'All-Wise  and  merciful  Father!^  'Most  Beneficent  and 
kind ! '  And  then —  *  All-Loving  Father ! '  '  Thou  loho  ever  shieldest 
thij  feeble  flocks  upon  thy  Loving  Boso^n!''  Tlien  a  pause,  and  — 
*  So  Lnjinite  in  goodness  and ' 

*'  Here  his  yoice  failed  him,  and  he  sank  into  a  short  slumber. 
When  he  next  aroused  himself  he  was  back  amid  the  scenes  of 
his  boyhood;  now  upon  the  farm;  now  felling  trees;  then  at 
school  spelling  h-u-t,  hut,  t-e-r,  ter,  buttery  —  n-u-t,  nut,  —  butter- 
nut; and  then  he  took  up  his  Latin  conjugation.  After  this  he 
sank  once  more  into  unconsciousness,  and  when  he  next  spoke, 
his  words  were  all  of  one  accord,  betraying  nearness  to  God. 
There  was  really  no  Avandering,  and  yet  no  sense  of  earthly 
things.  His  mind  seemed  already  soaring  away  from  the  body, 
and  grasping  Heavenly  beauties.  O,  Vaney,  sweet  and  inspiring 
were  these  disconnected  utterances,  welling  up  from  our  father's 
soul ;  a  soul  filled  with  spiritual  power. 

"  But  I  must  leave  you  now  and  go  to  father.     George  will 


THE   MEMOIR.  533 

sleep  iu  the  Green  Room,  within  call.  I  am  to  sit  with  father 
until  twelve,  when  La  Fay  will  take  my  place.  I  will  close  this 
in  the  morning.  God  grant  I  may  come  with  cheering  tidings 
of  our  father.     Good-night.     God  bless  and  keep  you. 

^^Wednesday  morning,  31sf  —  Father  labored  much  for  breath 
during  the  first  part  of  the  night ;  but  when  I  left  him,  at  Twelve, 
he  seemed  rather  more  comfortable.  Between  Three  and  Four, 
mother,  who  could  not  sleep,  joined  La  Fay  in  his  watching; 
and,  as  she  sat  by  the  side  of  the  loved  one,  his  hand  in  hers, 
his  struggles  for  breath  gradually  grew  less,  and  she  deemed 
him  better.  When  I  went  in  at  six  o'clock,  he  looked  up  and 
sweetly  smiled,  but  could  not  speak.  I  noticed  a  cold  sweat 
upon  his  brow,  but  dreamed  not  that  the  end  was  so  nigh. 
When  the  others  went  down  to  breakfast  I  had  some  warm  water 
sent  up,  thinking  that  bathing  his  head  might  soothe  him,  as  this 
was  something  he  had  enjoyed  all  through  his  sickness ;  and  it 
had  never  failed  to  quiet  him.  For  nearly  a  half  hour  I  bathed 
that  noble  brow  ;  rejoicing  that  it  was  soothing  him  into  so  sweet 
and  peaceful  a  sleep,  little  thinking  it  was  to  be  that  sleep  that 
knows  no  waking  upon  earth.  And  when  George  came  up  for 
me  to  go  to  breakfast,  I  joined  our  mother  with  a  lighter  heart ; 
and  told  her  that  father  had  fallen  into  a  sweet  sleep  and  seemed 
really  better.  At  this  intelligence  the  anxious  clouds  were  lifted 
from  her  dear  face,  and  with  a  bright,  hopeful  smile  she  left  me 
to  go  back  to  him,  who  was  so  much  more  to  her  than  all  tlie 
world  beside. 

******* 
"  With  love,  as  ever, 

"  Thine  affectionate  sister, 

*  "  Haley." 

And  so  once  again  the  wife's  hopes  were  raised,  and  the 
cloud  of  anxiety  was  lifted  from  her  brow  by  the  thought 
that  she  might  enjoy  the  blessed  companionship  of  the 
ioved  one  j-et  a  while  longer  upon  earth.  She  hastened 
back  to  her  precious  charge,  the  new-born  hope  whispering 
sweet  music  to  her  soul ;  but,  alas  !  those  notes  of  promise 
were  to  faint  and  fail  in  mournful  cadence.  As  she  entered 
46* 


534  REV.    SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

tlie  chamber  she  found  the  dear  one  lying  as  if  in  quiet, 
peaceful  repose,  and  before  taking  her  seat  again  in  the  old 
place,  where  he  could  rest  his  weakening  hand  in  her  tender 
grasp,  she  bent  over  and  imprinted  a  kiss  upon  his  lips,  — 
but  there  was  no  response.  No  response  !  —  the  first  time 
in  all  those  years  he  had  failed  to  return  that  tender  token. 
But  he  must  have  recognized  the  presence  of  that  beloved 
companion ;  for  a  sweet,  trustful  smile  came  over  his 
features  —  a  smile  which  left  its  holy  impress  there  while 
that  mortal  form  was  exposed  to  human  gaze.  And  that 
smile  was  the  only  token  of  recognition.  The  wife  gazed 
a  few  moments,  and  then  sent  her  son,  George  Winslow, 
to  call  Haley,  for  she  knew  that  the  end  was  at  hand. 

Haley  came  into  the  chamber,  and  she  and  George  stood 
by  their  mother's  side.  A  solemn  stillness  dwelt  upon  the 
air,  and  they  broke  it  not  even  by  a  whisper.  They  recog- 
nized, as  from  the  impress  of  the  presence  itself,  that  a 
Messenger  from  the  Unseen  was  with  them,  and  the  thought 
filled  them  with  an  emotion  so  overpowering  and  ineffable, 
that  they  could  not  have  spoken  if  they  would.  He  who 
had  suffered  so  much  lay  now  so  quiet  and  so  calm  that  it 
seemed  like  the  falling  to  sleep  of  an  infant  upon  its 
mother's  bosom.  There  was  no  motion  —  no  movement 
of  any  feature  ;  but  the  eyes  were  lightly  closed,  and  the 
lips  fixed  as  though  with  some  purpose  of  will,  —  only  the 
light  of  that  smile  still  lingered  around  them.  The  breath- 
ing was  low  and  faint, —  lower  and  fainter  yet,  —  until  at 
length  the  soft,  sighing  cadence  died  away  upon  the  quiet 
air,  and  a  shadow  flitted  over  the  calm  and  tranquil  face, 
as  of  angel  wings  that  had  come  in  between  that  face  and 
the  light. 

I  love  to  think  that  on  that  October  morning  Jimmy  and 
Sarah  tpok  our  father  by  the  hand,  and  led  him  forth  to  the 
New  and  Better  Life  ! 


THE   MEMOIR,  535 


CHAPTER  XX. 

Obituaries  of  the  Press,  —  The  Funeral,  —  Memorial 
Services,  — A  Tribute  from  A.  St.  John  Chambre,  — 
Letter  of  Dr.  J.  V.  C.  Smith,  —  Conclusion. 

Notice  of  the  death  of  Dr.  Cobb  was  taken  by  the  press 
generally  throughout  the  country,  and  the  spirit  which 
marked  the  obituaries  was  of  one  character.  There  is  no 
need  that  I  should  occup}-  space  here  in  transcribing  them. 
I  will  only  give  a  few,  to  show  the  general  tone  of  feeling. 

The  following  is  from  Rev.  Dr.  I.  D.  Williamson,  of  the 
"  Star  in  the  West " ;  — 

''DEATH  OF  DR.   COBB. 

♦'  It  is  our  painful  duty  to  announce  that  our  old  and  beloved 
friend  and  brother,  Kev.  Sylvanus  Cobb,  D.D.,  died  at  his  resi- 
dence in  Boston,  on  Wednesday  morning,  Oct.  31st.  Thus, 
another  of  the  fathers  in  our  Israel  has  fallen,  and  we  that 
remain,  are  warned  that  the  time  of  our  deiDarture  is  at  hand. 
We  first  met  Br.  Cobb  in  1828,  and  from  that  time  to  the  day  of 
his  death  we  have  known  and  loved  him.  He  was  then  in  the 
strength  and  prime  of  his  manhood.  With  a  herculean  frame, 
and  a  massive  brain  to  match,  he  was  a  man  of  commanding 
presence,  and  one  who  looked  upon  him  would  be  apt  to  think 
that  he  was  as  well  able  as  any  man  to  defy  the  assaults  of  time. 
The  last  time  we  met  him  was  in  Boston,  in  1864.  Thirty  and 
six  years  had  passed  since  we  first  met,  and  though  the  marks 
of  age  were  apparent,  yet  '  his  eye  was  not  dim  nor  his  natural 
force  abated,'  and  w"e  thought  he  had  a  good  chance  for  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  more  of  life  upon  the  earth.     But  he  has  gone 


536  r.EV.    SYLVANUS    COBB,  D.D. 

the  way  of  all  the  earth,  and  it  is  a  comfort  to  know  that  he 
lived  not  in  vain.  He  fought  a  good  fight  and  kept  the  faith,  and 
served  his  day  and  generation  well  and  truly.  lie  was  a  man  of 
great  kindness  of  heart  and  spotless  purity  of  life.  He  has  left 
his  testimony  behind  him  in  several  able  and  valuable  works, 
among  which  his  Notes  on  the  New  Testament  is  most  promi- 
nent. If  he  had  done  nothing  but  produce  that  work,  his  fame 
as  a  clear  thinker  and  sound  theological  writer  would  have  been 
secured.  He  was  characterized  rather  by  strength  and  solidity 
of  thought,  than  by  elegance  of  style  or  brilliancy  of  rhetoric. 
His  logic  was  compact  and  strong  as  iron,  and  it  behooved  the 
man  who  engaged  in  controversy  with  him,  to  look  well  to  his 
premises  and  conclusions.  His  life  from  his  earliest  manhood 
was  consecrated  to  the  cause  he  so  much  loved,  and  for  it  he 
labored  with  tireless  industry  through  a  long  series  of  years. 
Few  men,  we  think,  have  done  more  good,  and  few  would  be 
more  widely  or  deeply  mourned." 

The  next  is  from  the  "  Bostori  Daily  Transcript,"  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

"Rev.  Sylvanus  Cobb,  D.  D.,  well  known  as  a  distinguished 
clergyman  of  the  Universalist  denomination,  died  this  morning 
at  his  residence  in  Webster  Street,  East  Boston,  in  the  sixty- 
ninth  year  of  his  age.  Dr.  Cobb  was  a  man  of  vigorous  powers, 
which  age  did  not  impair.  His  mind  remained  always  fresh, 
because  his  heart  was  in  everything  he  did.  He  was  widely 
known  for  his  polemical  earnestness  and  ability,  holding  the  posi- 
tion of  a  champion  as  well  as  confessor  of  the  Universalist 
faith.  In  politics  and  reform  his  place  was  among  the  most 
advanced  liberals.  His  acquirements  were  as  solid  as  his  nature 
was  ardent,  and  his  earnest  expressions  of  feeling  and  opinion 
always  carried  with  them  an  intellectual  weight.  He  will  be 
mourned  b}^  thousands  in  New  England,  to  whom  his  resolute 
yet  kindly  face,  his  intrepid  bearing,  and  his  resounding  tones 
have  for  years  been  familiar." 

The  following  is  from  the  ''  Saturday  Evening  Gazette" 
of  Boston  :  — 


THE   MEMOIR.  537 

'*  Liberal  Christianity  has  lost  a  zealous  and  able  defender  by 
the  death  of  Rev.  Sylvanus  Cobb,  which  occurred  at  his  resi- 
dence in  East  Boston  on  Wednesday,  Oct.  31,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-eight.  As  preacher,  author,  and  editor,  he  labored  sedu- 
lously and  intelligently  for  the  advancement  of  his  denomination, 
and  was  rewarded  by  seeing  it  arise  out  of  its  persecution  and 
weakness  to  be  a  power  in  the  land.  As  a  polemic  he  was  a 
man  to  be  feared  by  a  contestant ;  for,  armed  with  the  simple 
truth  of  the  gospel  he  loved  and  preached,  and  aided  by  the 
strength  of  a  vigorous  intellect,  there  were  none  who  could  con- 
trovert his  positions.  This  was  proved  in  the  celebrated  Hudson 
and  Adams  discussions,  which  are  printed,  and  form  most 
excellent  volumes  of  his  printed  works.  He  never,  however, 
forfeited  the  respect  of  opponents  by  any  departure  from  the 
rules  of  fair  controversy,  though  there  were  cases  where  they 
were  less  kind  to  him.  Though  a  zealous  contestant,  he  was 
kind  and  generous,  and  manifested  towards  all  the  charity  he 
professed.  His  ability  as  a  theologian  is  evinced  in  his  Com- 
mentary on  the  New  Testament,  his  last  and  grandest  work,  a 
monument  to  his  erudition  and  his  industry.  As  a  preacher,  he 
was  earnest  and  impressive,  holding  his  hearers  in  the  deepest 
interest,  and,  though  not  what  the  world  calls  eloquent,  while 
he  had  the  fervor  of  youth  and  in  his  matured  intellect,  he  stood 
in  the  foremost  ranks  of  his  denomination.  Styles  changed  ;  he 
was  no  longer  wanted  as  a  controvertist,  where,*  indeed,  the 
denomination  itself  had  advanced  farther  than  he,  and  he  left 
the  field  to  others,  doing  little  latterly  beyond  literary  labors. 
He  was  a  zealous  Temperance  man,  and  was  interested  in  most 
of  the  Reform  movements  of  the  day,  busying  himself  in  all 
good  works,  which  will  miss  his  support.  We  have  known  him 
long  as  a  kind  friend,  always  ready  with  a  pleasant  word  of 
encouragement ;  and  though  the  death  of  a  good  man  at  a  ripe 
age  is  no  cause  for  grief,  we  heard  of  his  departure  with  sincere 
regret." 

I  have  many  more  notices  at  hand,  but  there  is  no  need 
of  giving  them  here.  Dr.  Saywer,  of  the  "  Ambassador^'' 
gave  an  extended  obituary,  worthy  alike  of  his  subject  and 
of  his  own  great  heart ;  and  he  may  take  to  himself  the 


538  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB^    D.B. 

assurance  that  his  kind  words  of  respect  for  the  dead,  and 
sympathy  for  the  living,  have  called  upon  him  blessings 
from  the  bereaved. 

And  so  of  the  others  who  have  offered  their  generous 
tributes  of  consolation.  They  will  be  remembered  and 
blessed. 

The  funeral  services  were  held  on  Monday,  November 
5th.  As  on  the  occasions  of  the  burial  of  Jimmy  and 
Sarah,  there  were  no  badges  of  mourning  worn  by  an}^  of 
the  family.  It  had  been  Mr.  Cobb's  earnest  desire  that  no 
.such  dark  and,  to  him,  unpleasant  regalia  should  ever  come 
in  to  add  external  gloom  and  shadow  to  the  occasion  of 
the  passing  away  of  any  member  of  the  household.  lie 
held  it  as  the  relic  of  times  when  Death  was  regarded  as 
the  most  awful  and  calamitous  fate  that  could  befall  human- 
ity, and  as  a  custom  which  the  glorious  light  of  the  Blessed 
Gospel  should  banish  from  the  Christian  World.  But  he 
urged  nothing  of  this  upon  others.  He  respected  the  feel- 
ings of  all  who  honestly  felt  the  need  of  outward  trappings 
of  mourning  ;  but  for  himself  he  wanted  them  not. 

The  following,  from  the  "  Universalist"  gives  a  full  ac- 
count of  the  funeral  services  :  — 

FUNERAL  OF  DR.   COBB. 

' '  The  funeral  services  of  our  late  brother  in  the  ministry,  and 
honored  Father  in  our  Israel,  Rev.  Sylvanus  Cobb,  D.D.,  were 
held,  agreeably  to  the  announcement  made  in  our  last,  in  the 
School  Street  church  on  Monday.  At  12  o'clock,  there  were 
brief  services  at  the  house  of  the  deceased  in  East  Boston,  a 
prayer  being  offered  by  Rev.  A.  St.  John  Chambre. 

"  The  church  was  promptly  filled  at  the  hour  of  1,  save  the 
seats  kept  in  reservation  for  the  family,  the  relatives  and  the 
clergy.  At  1^  o'clock  the  coffin  containing  the  body  was 
brought  in  and  placed  on  a  bier  in  front  of  the  pulpit;  the  seats 
tliat  had  been  reserved  were  occupied ;  and,  in  every  part,  the 


THE   MEMOIR.  539 

house  was  filled.  The  plaintive  notes  of  the  organ,  breaking  the 
solenm  stillness,  were  a  fitting  prelude  to  the  rites  that  were  to 
follow. 

"  Rev.  J.  Boyden  oflered  a  fervent  Invocation  ;  after  which, 
the  pastor  of  the  East  Boston  Society,  Rev.  C.  J.  White,  read  a 
selection  of  Scripture.  A  part  of  this  selection  w^as  the  107th 
Psalm,  and  was  read  at  the  request  of  the  bereaved  widow.  This 
Psalm  contains  the  passages  which  our  late  brother  so  frequently 
repeated,  in  his  half-unconscious  state,  the  Sunday  before  his 
death.  This  circumstance  was  stated  in  explanation  of  the 
request  that  this  Psalm  should  be  included  in  The  Selection. 

"Rev.  T.  J.  Greenwood  next  read  the  very  appropriate  hj^mn, 
beginning,  — 

"  I  looked  upon  the  righteous  man, 
And  saw  his  parting  breath, 
Without  a  struggle  or  a  sigh, 
Serenely  yield  to  death." 

"  The  hymn  was  sung  by  the  choir  of  the  church,  conducted 
by  Mr.  Ball.     Following  the  hymn  came 

Dr.  Miner's  Address. 

"  The  address  was  highly  eulogistic;  but  every  point  of  ex- 
cellence, as  it  was  named,  instantl}^  commanded  the  assent  of  all 
who  had  known  the  departed.  Dr.  Miner's  opening  remark 
was,  that  the  current  of  human  life  is  flowing  on  to  bear  us  to 
our  rest.  We  cannot  note  every  rill  that  goes  to  swell  the  cur- 
rent. Occasionally,  one  of  larger  magnitude  commands  especial 
attention.  When,  in  the  providence  of  God,  one  passes  away 
who  was  gifted  with  extraordinary  powers  of  mind,  with  an 
unusual  degree  of  the  Christian  qualities,  and  who  has  faithfully 
used  the  opportunities  for  great  influence,  we  are  compelled  to 
pause,  and  ]pass  in  review  the  gifts  that  have  wrought  with  such 
effect.  The  late  Sylvauus  Cobb  was  such  a  man.  Born  in  the 
town  of  l!>I'orway,  in  the  State  of  Maine,  he  breathed  in  his  early 
youth  the  atmosphere  that  nurtures  a  noble  ambition.  From 
the  first,  he  felt  the  call  to  be  of  service  to  others ;  and  his  first 
l^ublic  career  was  that  of  instructing  j'outh.  The  next  step  was 
to  him  a  natural  one  —  into  the  Christian  ministry.     His  settle- 


540  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB^    D.D. 

ment  in  Maiden,  in  1828,  was  at  a  time  of  peculiar  trial  for  a 
minister  of  the  Reconciliation.  The  ten  years  of  his  pastoral 
labor  there  arc  especially  noted  as  a  controversial  era.  The 
current  hostility  to  the  doctrines  of  Universalism,  always  strong, 
then  raged  with  especial  vigor.  The  Maiden  pastor  did  not  find, 
and  he  had  not  sought,  a  position  of  ease.  But  he  was  equal  to 
the  conflict,  and  he  did  his  duty  valiantly.  Allusion  was  made  to 
his  brief  settlement  at  Walthani,  and  also  in  East  Boston.  He 
did  not  long  continue  in  the  pastoral  oflice.  He  had  undertaken 
the  herculean  task  of  estabiishi"ng  a  weekly  journal  in  a  field  in 
some  measure  pre-occupied.  For  years  he  labored  against  dis- 
couragements of  no  ordinary  magnitude.  His  financial  resour- 
ces were  small.  His  investments  in  real  estate  were  not  such  as 
practical  business  men  pronounced  wise.  What  means  he  pos- 
sessed were  not  at  his  command ;  and  financial  revolutions 
brought  him  unlooked-for  embarrassments.  But  he  never  failed 
to  pay  an  obligation  when  the  means  for  so  doing  were  in  his 
possession.  Nor  did  he,  while  claims  were  resting  upon  him, 
squander  in  reckless  luxury.  He  was  never  guilty  of  any  in- 
difference in  regard  to  his  obligations,  nor  of  any  conduct  which 
Christian  criticism  would  condemn.  Under  all  circumstances, 
he  retained  the  confidence  and  the  respect  of  the  community. 

"What  was  the  style  of  Dr.  Cobb's  faith?  What  was  the 
quality  of  his  thought  ?  AVhat  was  it  that  gave  him  peculiar 
power  as  a  teacher  of  Christian  truth  ?  He  recognized  in  God  a 
Father ;  and  interpreting  the  character  of  the  Divine  paternity, 
in  the  light  of  the  paternal  affection  which  was  so  strong  and  so 
noticeable  in  his  own  heart,  he  saw  in  the  Divine  administration 
a  Paternal  Government.  He  could  not  believe  anything  possible 
in  the  administration  of  the  Divine  Ruler  that  did  not  accord 
with  this  fundamental  conviction.  Hence  his  mind  saw  Divine 
justice  always  tempered  with  mercy.  He  could  not  fail  to  see 
that  such  a  government  embraced  the  world.  And  he  lived  to 
see  a  great  change  wrought  in  public  sentiment  by  the  patri- 
archal ministers,  of  whom  he  was  one.  And  with  them,  he  saw 
in  prospect  the  coming  world  accomplishing  for  human  souls 
what  cannot  be  accomplished  under  the  shadows  of  the  present. 
He  saw  in  the  life  beyond  the  grave  the  soul  relieved  of  many 
burdens,  and  the  veil  removed  that  now  hides  the  Divine  pres- 
ence.   But  he  did  not  trouble  himself  with  any  question  of  in- 


THE   MEMOIR.  541 

stantaneous  change.  In  reality,  he  saw  but  one  world,  having 
indeed  its  various  phases. 

"Dr.  Cobb's  faith  at  once  assumed  the  most  practical  form. 
It  was  not  in  his  nature  to  cherish  a  cold  faith.  It  warmed  into 
practical  application,  and  made  him  active  in  doing  good.  It 
shone  forth  in  the  cause  of  temperance  ;  and  he  did  a  large  share 
of  the  work  that  established  the  great  principles  which  have  since 
got  embodied  into  law.  He  was  early  among  the  earnest  men 
who  worked  in  the  anti-slavery  movement.  Wherever  he 
preached,  he  assailed  the  wrong.  In  the  pulpit,  and  through 
the  columns  of  his  paper,  he  was  the  steady  defender  of  liberty. 
And  the  older  he  grew,  the  more  earnest  and  the  more  uncom- 
promising was  his  devotion  to  freedom. 

"  Though  not  what  is  technically  called  a  learned  man,  in  all 
that  pertained  to  his  professional  labors  he  was  truly  and  pro- 
foundly learned.  He  was  always  thorough  and  persevering  in 
mastering  all  the  jDoints  involved  in  any  work  he  undertook.  His 
profound  and  accurate  researches  were  exhibited  in  his  *  Dis- 
cussions.' In  his  controversy  with  one  of  the  ablest  and  most 
cultured  divines  of  Boston,  we  never  had  occasion  to  fear  the 
result.  We  all  knew  that  the  w^ork  was  in  safe  hands.  All  the 
points  were  handled  with  care.  And  if  an  impartial  jury  could 
sit  upon  the  Calvinistic  dogmas  that  were  tested  in  that  discus- 
sion, the  verdict  would  be,  '  Died  of  the  hard  blows  dealt  by  the 
hands  of  Sylvanus  Cobb.'  To  the  young  who  would  get  a 
knowledge  of  the  essentials  of  Christian  doctrine,  Dr.  Miner 
said  he  could  commend  no  book  with  more  confidence  than 
Cobb's  '  Compend  of  Divinity.'  His  most  valuable  work  was 
his  last  —  his  '  Commentary  on  the  ISTew  Testament,'  which  was 
pronounced  philosophical,  clear,  comprehensive.  Dr.  Cobb's 
mind  was  always  massive ;  it  moved  with  a  weight  that  would 
not  admit  of  resistance.  Such  a  character  must  be  iiersevering. 
His  spirit  was  as  indomitable  as  truth  itself.  If  difficulties  came, 
he  bore  himself  above  them.     Nothing  could  crush  him. 

*'  Dr.  Cobb  was  the  friend  of  young  men.  He  could  criticise 
the  young  preacher  with  great  severity ;  and  yet  treat  him  with 
the  greatest  magnanimity,  and  make  him  feel  that  he  was  his 
friend.  It  is  not  strange  that  such  a  man  has  the  confidence  and 
the  sympathy  of  his  seniors  —  Ballou,  Streeter,  and  Balfour. 

"  It  was  not  claimed  that  Dr.  Cobb  was  faultless.  Faults  he 
46 


542  liEV.    STLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

doubtless  had.  But  the  great  purpose  of  his  life  rose  above 
them,  and  it  was  never  tarnished  by  them. 

*'  The  central  principle  in  the  character  of  Dr.  Cobb  was  his 
deep  religiousness.  No  worldly  difficulties  ever  impaired  this. 
Under  any  and  all  circumstances,  if  there  were  occasion  to  elicit 
his  thoughts,  his  uppermost  thought  was  sure  to  have  regard  for 
the  honor  and  the  glory  of  God.  While  his  mind  wandered,  his 
lips  repeated  the  words  '  O  that  men  Avould  praise  the  Lord  for 
his  goodness,  and  for  his  wonderful  -works  to  the  children  of 
men.'  Not  many  in  health  and  comfort  and  prosperity  feel  like 
saying  this.  How  few,  in  the  hour  of  adversity,  of  weakness, 
and  of  pain,  are  ready  to  utter  the  words !  But  here  was  one 
broken  in  body,  prostrate  on  the  bed  of  disease,  and  only  wait- 
ing for  his  dejDarture ;  and  Tie  sees  this  truth,  and  he  testifies  to 
the  infinite  goodness  of  God  ! 

*'  Dr.  Miner  concluded  with  a  feeling  address  to  the  mourners, 
and  also  to  the  ministers.  Could  we  compare  the  present  with 
the  future,  as  we  can  the  present  with  the  i)ast,  the  great  work 
accomplished  by  Dr.  Cobb  and  his  co-laborers  would  be  full  of 
encouragement ;  and  would  exhort  us  to  persevere  in  confidence 
and  in  hope. 

-ORIGINAL  HYMN. 

*•  Following  the  address,  Dr.  Paige  read,  and  the  choir  sang, 
the  following  hymn,  written  for  the  occasion  by  Mrs.  P.  A. 
Hanaford :  — 

"  Go  to  thy  rest,  0  man  of  God  !  on  high, 

With  those  who  bore  the  burden  and  the  heat 

Of  bygone  days,  when  Truth,  that  could  not  die, 

Burned  on  your  lips  and  guided  all  your  feet. 

"  We  mourn  thine  absence  from  familiar  ways, 

But  high  and  pure  the  paths  which  thou  hast  trod; 
We  hope  to  follow  till  we  meet  and  praise 
With  thee  and  thine  before  the  throne  of  God. 

"  Long  will  thy  name  be  cherished  'mid  the  ranks 
Of  those  who  teach  our  God's  undying  love, 
While  evermore  we  bow  with  rev'rent  thanks, 
And  ask  for  grace  to  follow  thee  above. 


THE   MEMOIR.  543 

"  Go  to  thy  place  amid  the  radiant  host,  — 

We  mourn  thy  loss  from  earth  with  tears  to-day, 
Yet  they  who  knew  thee  best  and  loved  thee  most 
Say  not,  '  Return,'  but  '  Speed  thee  on  thy  way  ! ' 

"  Rise  to  thy  place  beside  the  valiant  few 

Who  boundless  grace  proclaimed  in  days  gone  by ; 
The  crown  is  thine;  the  victor's  palm  thy  due. 
And  thine  the  welcome  where  no  more  we  die. 

"  A  prayer  was  then  offered  by  the  former  pastor  in  East 
Boston  —  KeT.  A.  St.  John  Chambre.  This  part  of  the  service 
seems  hardly  a  proper  one  for  comment.  We  may  say  that 
while  it  was  comj)rehensive,  it  appeared  to  be  an  inspiration  of 
the  solemn  scene. 

*'  The  anthem,  '  Kest,  Spirit,  Rest,'  sung  by  the  choir,  con- 
cluded the  service.  All  who  desired  to  take  a  last  view  of  the 
face  that  in  life  was  so  familiar,  had  the  privilege  granted ;  and 
nearly  all  felt  the  invitation  to  be  a  privilege.  Then  all  that  was 
mortal  of  Sylvanus  Cobb  was  borne  to  the  last  resting-place. 
The  remains  were  conveyed  to  Woodlawn  Cemetery,  the  follow- 
ing gentlemen  acting  as  pall-bearers:  Rev.  R.  H.  Neale,  D.D., 
Hon.  Richard  Frothingham,  Rev.  J.  M.  Usher,  Rev.  J.  G. 
Adams,  Deacon  Caverly  of  the  Shawmut  Avenue  Church,  and 
Deacon  Kendall  of  East  Boston.  At  the  grave  a  solemn  prayer 
was  offered  by  Rev.  A.  J.  Patterson ;  and  the  last  respects  to  the 
earthly  remains  of  a  faithful  minister  of  the  New  Testament, 
were  paid.    Peace  to  the  ashes  of  the  worthy  dead!  " 

Memorial  services  were  held  in  many  places.  In  Maiden, 
Rev.  T.  J.  Greenwood  preached  an  eloquent  sermon  on  the 
subject  of  Dr.  Cobb's  life  and  death.  In  Lynn  a  sermon 
was  preached  by  Rev.  Mr.  Biddle.  In  the  town  of  Nor- 
waj^,  Mr.  Cobb's  native  place,  Rev.  N.  Gunnison  preached 
an  able  and  truthful  discourse  in  memory  of  the  deceased. 
In  Marlboro'  a  memorial  discourse  was  preached  by  Rev. 
W.  A.  Start ;  and  one  in  Waltham  by  Rev.  Benton  Smith. 


544  liEV.    SYLVAN  us    COBB,    D.D. 

There  were  other  memorial  services  ;  but  I  have  not  been 
sufliciently  informed  to  make  a  note  of  them. 

The  following,  from  the  pen  of  one  who  was  long  a  mem- 
ber of  Mr.  Cobb's  family,  I  present  with  emotions  of  deep- 
est love  and  gratitude.  Passing  over  the  few  words  spoken 
of  myself,  which  I  know  were  dictated  by  a  brother's  love 
for  one  who  always  loved  and  honored  him,  I  have  to  thanlv 
him  for  the  generous,  and  yet,  I  firmly  believe,  true  and 
just,  estimate  of  my  father's  character  : 

"Stoughton,  Mass., 
"Dec.  8,  1866. 

"  My  dear  Bro.  Cobb  :  — I  have  been  informed  that  you  are 
to  complete  the  memoir  of  your  father.  I  rejoice  to  hear  this, 
for  I  know  the  work  will  be  done  well  and  lovingly. 

"When  your  father  died,  one  of  my  first  thoughts  was,  who 
will  write  his  life  ?  I  remembered  that  he  had  been  for  some 
time  engaged  in  the  preparation  of  his  autobiography.  But  had 
he  completed  it?  If  not,  who  would  ?  My  mind  turned  to  you, 
for  I  felt  sure  that  you,  better  than  could  any  other  person,  would 
accomplish  the  labor  of  love.  I  hope  you  will  be  eminently  suc- 
cessfid,  and  that  we  may  have  the  result  at  an  early  day.  I  am 
very  anxious  to  read  the  events  connected  with  his  early  life, 
and  to  know  more  of  the  circumstances  and  conditions  that  com- 
bined to  produce  the  noble,  Christian  character  I  loved  so  well. 
Many  others  are  equally  anxious.  I  believe  the  volume  you 
will  give  us  will  be  highly  prized,  not  only  by  the  ministry,  but 
also  the  laity  of  our  denomination.  Our  whole  'Household  of 
Faith' looked  up  to  the  doctor  as  to  a  '  father  in  Israel,'  and 
mourned  when  he  was  stricken  from  the  ranks  of  the  living.  A 
sadness  fell  upon  us  all  when  his  soul  passed  on  to  God.  But 
he  went  up  higher.  He  rests  from  his  labors,  and  his  works 
abide  after  him. 

"Very  few  have  I  known  so  strong  of  intellect,  so  finn  of 
faith,  so  warm  of  heart,  and  so  faithful  to  Christian  truth  and 
duty,  as  was  he.     But  he  has  finished  his  course  !    He  kept  the 


THE  MEMOIR,  545 

faith.  And  now  he  has  been  taken  to  receive  the  crown  of 
righteousness  reserved  for  him. 

"  Some  thirteen  years  I  have  known  your  father  intimately  — 
probably  as  intimately  as  any  one  not  a  member  of  his  own 
family  circle.  Of  this  you  are  well  aware.  I  was  his  Pastor  for 
a  time.  During  a  year  of  my  early  ministry  I  lived  with  him  ; 
and  again  was  of  his  family  another  year  after  leaving  the  army. 
I  think  I  may  say  I  was  one  of  his  friends ;  I  know  he  was  one 
of  mine.  During  all  the  years  I  have  known  him  my  esteem 
and  love  for  him  strengthened ;  for,  always  he  was  the  same,  — 
always  the  gentle-hearted  Christian,  the  affectionate  husband 
and  father,  the  true  and  sound  theologian,  the  earnest  servant 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

**  It  has  often  been  said  that  what  a  man  is,  will  be  most  fully 
shown  in  his  own  family.  There  is  much  truth  in  this  statement. 
In  the  privacy  of  home,  if  anywhere,  a  man's  real  character  will 
stand  revealed.  If  we  judge  Dr.  Cobb  accordingly,  the  very 
highest  eulogium  may  be  pronounced  upon  his  life.  In  his  family 
he  was  all  that  could  possibly  be  desired.  A  stranger  meeting  him 
upon  the  street,  and  beholding  his  large  physical  frame,  and  mark- 
ing his  deeply-thoughtful  countenance,  might  perhaps  wonder 
if  he  could  be  social  and  genial.  But  no  one  could  be  long  in  his 
home,  and  not  discover  that  none  could  be  more  so.  There,  what 
he  actually  was  did  really  make  itself  manifest.  He  was  always 
genial  and  social  —  always  happy.  I  never  knew  him  to  be 
otherwise.  No  one  in  his  house  was  made  uncomfortable  or 
unhappy  by  him.  At  morning,  at  noon,  and  at  night,  he  was 
the  same  good,  pleasant.  Christian  gentleman. 

"  In  this  connection  I  recall  what  I  consider  an  evidence  of  high 
Christian  attainment  and  rare  kindness  of  heart  —  that  I  never 
heard  him  speak  an  uncharitable  word  of  any  one.  Nor  was 
this  because  he  was  indifferent  to  wrong.  None  could  be  more 
severe  than  he  sometimes  was  in  the  condemnation  and  denun- 
ciation of  evil,  no  matter  by  whom  committed.  And  his  indig- 
nation against  wrong  was  freely  expressed  in  the  presence  of 
the  wrong-doer.  But  for  individuals  he  had  a  large  charity. 
Of  them  he  always  spoke  in  words  of  affectionate  tenderness, 
or,  at  the  most,  refrained  from  speaking  at  all. 

*'  Of  his  sympathy  with,  and  active  interest  in,  young  ministers, 
many  can  bear  warm  and  grateful  testimony.     He  seemed  to 


546  REV.    SYLVANUS    COBB^    D.D. 

know  how  to  meet  them,  and  how  to  treat  them.  He  was 
peculiarly  happy  in  this  regard.  So  far  as  my  own  experience 
is  concerned,  he  was  the  first  and  only  '  father  '  in  the  ministry, 
who,  when  I  entered,  a  very  young  man,  into  the  Denomina- 
tion, somewhat  physically  enfeebled  and  exceedingly  weary  in 
mind  from  having  passed  through  the  shadow  of  a  great  trial, 
took  me  by  the  hand,  treated  me  withi^erfect  confidence,  inxited 
me  to  his  house,  and  interested  himself  in  my  behalf.  The 
friendship  then  formed  lasted  always,  and  was  as  fresh  and 
hearty  at  the  day  of  his  death  as  when  we  first  became  ac- 
quainted.    What  he  was  to  me  he  was  also  to  many  others. 

*'  As  a  Theologian,  the  Doctor  is  to  be  ranked  among  the  very 
ablest.  With  his  strong  and  comprehensive  intellectual  powers 
he  swept  the  whole  field  of  Bible  truths,  apprehended  clearly 
the  relations  of  Christian  doctrines  and  ethics,  and  resolved 
them  into  a  Compend  of  Divinity,  which  for  clearness  and  con- 
sistency stands  unrivalled.  But  he  was  not  merely  a  cold  critic 
of  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  He  accepted  them  as  the  oracles  of 
God,  undoubtingly,  and  from  strong  conviction,  and  he  felt  the 
power  of  the  truths  they  enunciated.  He  had  a  warm  religious 
feeling  that  bathed  all  his  theological  opinions  and  efforts  as  with 
the  light  and  love  of  the  world's  Redeemer.  As  a  Universalist, 
all  his  powers  were  for  long  years  consecrated  to  his  faith.  He 
loved  it,  and  was  willing  always  to  labor  to  the  utmost  for  its 
triumph.  How  well  and  successfully  he  labored,  you  will 
undoubtedly  fully  unfold  to  us.  Nor  was  his  faith  simply  the- 
oretical ;  it  was  practical  and  devotional.  He  was  religious  in 
his  family,  not  less  than  in  his  public  ministrations.  The  morn- 
ing and  evening  prayer  went  ever  up  to  the  throne  of  the  Father ; 
and  it  was  a  prayer  that  embraced  not  only  the  near,  but  also 
the  far-off.     He  was  truly  Catholic. 

"And  yet  intensely  denominational.  He  was  jealous  for  the 
good  name  and  fame  of  our  Zion.  He  desired  its  foundations  to 
be  laid  deep  and  broad,  and  was  anxious  that  upon  them  should 
be  reared  a  glorious  superstructure.  Other  foundation  than 
Jesus  Christ  he  would  not  acknowledge,  and  upon  the  cap-stone 
of  our  Temple  he  would  inscribe  only  '  Grace,  grace  unto  it!' 
Nor  was  he  willing  that  we  should  enter  into  any  entangling 
alliance  or  association  with  others.  He  felt  that  the  Universal- 
ist Denomination  had  earned,  through  sharp  trials  and  manifold 


THE   MEMOIR.  547 

tribulations,  the  right  to  be ;  that  it  had  accomplished,  under 
God,  of  itself,  a  great  work,  and  had  still  a  greater  before  it, 
which,  if  faithful  to  itself,  it  would  surely  consummate.  To  his 
mind,  the  world  was  large  enough,  and  the  opportunities  suffi- 
cient, for  the  existence  and  labors  of  all  branches  of  the  general 
church.  He  would  bid  them  all  '  God  speed '  so  far  as  they 
worked  righteousness,  and  held  aloft  the  cross  of  Calvary.  But 
he  would  not  jield  our  name,  nor  tarnish  our  glory,  nor  lower 
our  banner.  He  thought,  and  acted  upon  the  thought,  that  our 
Denomination  should  do  its  own  work  in  its  own  way.  Pres- 
tige, popularity,  fashion,  were  nothing  to  him  —  only  the  truth 
as  it  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  the  faith  of  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and 
Jacob,  that  in  the  fulness  of  time  all  souls  should  be  redeemed, 
and  the  Lord  God  be  all  in  all. 

"  I  can  at  least  speak  for  myself  of  the  Doctor  as  a  sermon- 
izer.  I  delighted  to  hear  him  preach.  To  say  that  his  sermons 
were  sound  and  logical,  would  not  be  enough.  They  were  com- 
plete in  form  and  detail.  They  shone  with  the  brightness  of  the 
truth  of  the  Gospel,  and  glowed  with  the  warmth  of  religious 
emotion.  They  compelled  thought ;  and  if  they  did  not  always 
convince  the  opposer,  they  certainly  made  him  feel  that  the 
sjDeaker  was  eminently  sincere  and  earnest. 

"He  was  indefatigable  in  his  literary  labors.  In  the  year 
1863-4,  which  I  spent  at  his  house,  he  was  engaged  in  his  last 
and  best  work,  the  Commentary  on  the  Kew  Testament.  Day 
after  da}-,  and  far  into  the  nights,  and  in  the  mornings  before 
breakfast,  he  labored  upon  that  book,  during  the  entire  year.  I 
am  sure  that  that  ceaseless  labor  hastened  his  end.  But  as 
though  he  felt  that  his  years  were  few  on  the  earth,  and  that  he 
must  work  while  the  day  lasted,  he  would  listen  to  no  objec- 
tions, and  persevered  until  it  was  completed.  He  wrote  that 
book  with  his  life.  He  literally  coined  his  physical  and  mental 
powers  into  its  pages. 

"But!  must  not  weary  you  longer.  Indeed,  I  fear  I  have 
written  at  too  great  length  already.  Much  more,  however, 
might  be  truthfully  said  of  the  Doctor.  But  you  will  gather 
it  all. 

"  I  remember  that  to  err  is  human.  Perfection  belongs  only 
to  Divinity.  Your  father  would  not  claim  perfection  for  himself. 
Nevertheless,  his  Christian  attainments  were  great;    and  few 


548  BEF.    SYLVAN-US    COBB,    D.D. 

have  been  more  thoroughly  and  steadily  devoted  to  the  religion 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour. 

"  His  family  and  his  friends  grieve  for  him,  for  he  is  not  on 
earth.  God  has  taken  him  !  The  Denomination  will  cherisli  his 
memory  with  kindliest  feelings. 

**Let  me  assure  you  of  our  profoundest  symj^athy  in  the  great 
affliction  which  has  fiillen  upon  you.  My  prayer  is,  that  the 
father's  mantle  may  fall  upon  the  '  first-born.' 

"  As  ever,  truly  your  friend, 

"A.  St.  Joiin  Chambr^. 
**  Sylvanus  Cobb,  Jr., 

^'Norway,  Maine. 

*'  Our  kindest  love  to  yourself,  your  family,  and  your  mother. 

*'  C." 


The  following,  from  one  whose  warm  and  enduring 
friendship  the  family  are  proud  to  own,  was  received  by 
the  stricken  wife  with  feelings  of  peculiar  joy  and  grati- 
tude. It  shows  not  only  the  ready  and  impulsive  sympa- 
thy of  the  writer,  but  it  serves  to  give  further  proof  of  the 
general  respect  and  esteem  in  which  the  memory  of  the 
departed  is  held  :  — 

'♦New  York,  I^ov.  4th,  1866. 
"My  dear  Mrs.  Cobb:  — 

"The  death  of  your  excellent  husband,  which  has  been  an- 
nounced in  the  papers  of  this  city,  really  gave  me  a  shock,  as 
the  intelligence  was  a  melancholy  surprise.  But  he  was  an 
eminently  good  man,  and  the  influence  of  his  disciplined  and 
cultivated  mind  will  long  be  remembered  by  those  who  had  the 
honor  of  his  acquaintance,  or  enjoyed  his  special  friendship. 

"In  expressing  my  heartfelt  sympathy  for  you  and  your 
family  in  this  sad  bereavement,  I  know  so  well  your  strong 
I)reparations  for  meeting  all  the  contingencies  of  life,  I  have  no 
doubt  of  the  calmness  of  your  expression,  and  the  dignity  of 
your  thoughts,  in  this  domestic  woe  and  mental  agony. 

"It  is  a  great  source  of  comfort  to  have  entire  confidence  in 


THE  MEMOIR.  549 

the  arrangements  of  Divine  Providence ;  and  in  believing  that 
our  ultimate  happiness  is  designed,  however  difficult  it  may  be 
for  us  to  understand  XhQ  laws  by  which  such  results  are  ulti- 
mately accomplished. 

"In  the  active,  comprehensive,  thinking  life  whicli  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Cobb  invariably  led,  I  have  no  idea  he  was  conscious  of  the 
high  place  he  held  in  the  public  mind.  But  the  press  eveiy- 
where  speaks  out  of  the  purity  of  his  character,  and  deplores 
his  loss. 

"A  reputation  like  his,  so  pure,  unsullied,  and  open-hearted, 
is  a  better  legacy  to  his  children,  and  a  far  richer  dowry  for  you, 
than  houses  or  lands.  No  one  can  rob  you  of  his  good  name. 
Allow  me,  therefore,  to  congratulate  you  and  your  family,  in 
knowing  the  fact,  as  you  must,  that  Mr.  Cobb  commanded  the 
respect  of  all  good  people  while  living,  and  his  death  is  consid- 
ered a  public  misfortune.     What  a  treasure  ! 

"Some  one  of  the  sons  should  at  once  commence  a  prepara- 
tion of  a  full  memoir  of  their  father.  It  would  not  only  be  a 
lasting  monument  of  their  affection  for  one  whose  very  name, 
unconnected  with  his  authoritative  writings,  is  an  honor  to 
them ;  but  it  would  subserve  the  interests  of  virtue,  temperance, 
religion,  and  humanity. 

"My  heart  is  full  of  sorrow  in  regard  to  this  painful  event; 
and  yet  I  see  very  clearly  how  his  biographer  may  vastly  enlarge 
the  sphere  in  which  the  jDrinciples  of  our  deceased  friend  ma}^ 
reach  thousands  upon  thousands  who  never  heard  the  sound  of 
liis  voice. 

"  Accept  for  yourself  and  your  children  my  sympathies,  my 
affectionate  regards,  and  continue  to  believe  me  your  friend  in 
adversity  as  well  as  in  prosperity, 

"  J.  V.  C.  Smith. 
"Mrs.  Stlvanus  Cobb, 

^^  East  Boston,  Mass.'''' 


And  thus  we  close  the  record  of  a,  good  man's  life.  If 
we  count  that  life  by  years,  we  shall  find  that  he  lived  very 
near  to  the  allotted  age  of  man  ;  but  if  we  count  it  by  its 
labors,  then  we  shall  admit  that  he  lived  to  a  ripe  old  age. 


550  REV.     SYLVANUS    COBB,    D.D. 

What  more  I  have  to  say  cannot  be  better  said  than  in  the 
words  which  I  addressed  to  my  sister  in  a  familiar  letter 
shortly  after  our  dear  father  had  been  born  into  the  higher 
life.     The  following  is  a  part  of  the  letter  referred  to  :  — 

*' Sister  Mine,  —  Death  has  some  valuable  lessons  for  those 
children  of  earth  who  are  willing  to  study  for  improvement. 
My  father  living  never  had  such  influence  over  me  as  he  has  had 
since  he  burst  the  bonds  of  earth.  Living,  my  father  never 
looked  to  me  so  grand  and  noble  as  he  looked  to  me  in  his  last 
sleep.  My  pen  cannot  picture  the  emotions  with  which  I  looked 
upon  that  placid  brow.  The  stern  warrior  reposed  upon  his 
laurels,  and  the  seal  of  the  true  life  was  set  even  upon  that 
emblem  of  mortality.  There  lay  the  form  we  had  called 
Father,  and  about  it,  with  a  radiance  almost  divine,  were  clus- 
tered the  results  of  his  life-long  labors,  —  results  dwelling  in  our 
knowledge,  and  manifest  to  thousands  upon  thousands  of  his 
fellow-beings.  I  gazed  upon  the  lips  that  had  been  first  to  utter 
the  blessed  words  of  God's  glorious  Truth  to  hosts  of  the 
anxious,  doubting  children  of  men  —  lips  that  never  knowingly 
uttered  falsehood  —  never  wittingly  bore  upon  their  breath 
words  of  ill  to  any  human  being! — lips  that  could  thunder 
invective  against  sin,  or  whisper  the  soft,  sweet  music  of  love  to 
the  listening  ear  of  friends  and  companions.  I  gazed  upon  the 
once  stalwart  frame  that  had  borne  so  much  of  toil  and  labor ; 
I  saw  it  worn  and  wasted  in  the  strife  until  its  strength  was 
gone,  and  its  energies  departed  forever.  And  I  asked  myself. 
For  whom  had  he  labored  ?  Never  for  self —  never,  never !  On 
all  the  earth  there  never  lived  and  died  a  man  who  had  more 
truly  and  practically  performed  an  unselfish  work  of  love  and 
good-will,  seeking  for  self  only  such  reward  as  he  could  lay  up 
in  heaven.  It  is  no  stretch  of  truth  to  say  that  our  father  never 
gave  room  to  a  coldly  selfish  thought  in  his  soul.  Of  how  many 
men,  in  his  position,  can  this  be  said.f*  I  thought  of  this  as  I 
stood  and  gazed  upon  that  shattered  and  tenantless  tabernacle. 

"  At  first  I  could  have  wished  that  our  father  might  have  been 
able  to  leave  more  of  this  world's  goods  behind  him.  But  for 
what  should  he  have  left  them  ?  Not  for  his  children,  surely. 
The  best  energies  of  his  life  had  been  given  to  them,  and  great 
to  them  has  been  the  benefit  —  a  benefit  which  must  continue  to 


THE   MEMOIR.  551 

work  to  them  for  good  while  they  live.  To  his  children  he  had 
given  while  he  lived,  and,  dying,  he  has  left  to  them  such  treas- 
ures of  mental  and  moral  worth  as  all  the  gold  of  a  Croesus  could 
not  purchase.  By  his  kindness  and  tender  care,  and  by  his 
energy  and  well-directed  efforts,  he  had  seen  them  all  started 
upon  the  voyage  of  life  —  started  with  an  hundredfold  more 
advantages  than  were  his  when  he  launched  his  bark  for  that 
same  voyage.  No,  no,  —  we  could  not  surely  wish  that  he  had 
done  more  for  his  children.  God  knows  he  has  done  enough  ; 
and  to-day  those  children  have  reason  to  bless  God  for  the  rich 
inheritance  derived  from  their  father.  For  my  part,  with  grate- 
ful heart,  and  voice  attuned  to  blessing,  I  thank  him  for  the 
priceless  wealth  he  has  bestowed  upon  me,  —  a  wealth  which  is 
mine  forever,  and  which  the  courts  of  men  cannot  wrest  from 
me. 

"  Should  he  have  left  more  for  our  mother  ?  God  forbid !  Has 
he  not  stamped  his  image  upon  his  children,  and  left  them  all  to 
her  ?  O,  my  soul !  how  many  mothers  are  left  so  well  provided 
for  as  is  she  who  blesses  us  with  her  love  ?  Ah,  not  many. 
Could  our  own  dear  mother  be  now  in  want,  then  might  we  say 
that  our  father  had  labored  and  toiled  without  just  reward ;  but 
it  is  not  so.  The  old  "Castle  "  is  hers  — that  glorious  old  roof- 
tree  where  our  loves  have  been  centered  so  long.  But,  had  she 
even  been  left  without  a  farthing  of  this  world's  wealth  in  her 
own  right,  she  would  still  have  found  herself  rich  in  all  that  can 
make  life  pleasant  and  comfortable.  My  sister,  I  think  our 
mother  need  not  fear  to  gather  up  her  jewels  and  compare  them 
with  the  treasures  of  earth's  most  favored  children. 

"No,  no, — there  is  nothing  to  regret;  but  everything  to  be 
thankful  for.  There  is  nothing  to  be  added  to  the  sum  of  the 
good  man's  life,  and  there  is  nothing  in  his  record  that  I  would 
expunge.  Once  more,  moved  thereto  from  the  depths  of  my 
innermost  heart,  I  join  hands  with  you,  my  darling  sister,  and 
give  promise  that,  so  far  as  God  shall  give  me  strength,  I  will 
be  to  our  mother  a  joy  and  a  blessing  while  her  dear  life  is 
spared  to  us.  Kiss  her  for  me,  and  say  to  her — '  God  bless  my 
Mother  ! ' 

"  Sylvanus,  Jr." 

And  so  I  might  have  written  to  every  member  of  that 


552  ItEV.     SYLVANUS     COBB,    D.D. 

family  circle.  The  faith  wlTich  sustained  the  father,  and 
which  he  had  labored  to  extend  to  others,  he  had  not  failed 
to  bestow  upon  his  children ;  and,  in  this  season  of 
bereavement,  it  is  sufficient  for  them.  They  all  love  it, 
and  hold  it  very  near  to  their  hearts.  Over  the  household, 
when  gathered  together  in  sweet  communion,  the  angel  of 
peace  holds  watch  and  ward ;  for,  into  that  union  of  souls 
in  faith,  the  creeds  of  men  can  intrude  no  discordant  ele- 
ments. 

Dear  Reader,  one  word  with  you  before  I  lay  aside  my 
pen.  These  pages  have  cost  me  many  a  waking,  toiling 
hour  that  should  have  been  given  to  sleep  ;  for  they  have 
been  written  with  other  duties  crowding  hard  upon  me  ;  but 
it  has  been  to  me,  nevertheless,  a  work  of  joy  and  profit. 
I  have  enjoyed  a  nearness  to  the  loved  one  that  has  kept 
warm  my  heart ;  and  there  has  been  rich  profit  in  the  val- 
uable lessons  presented,  as  I  have  dwelt  upon  the  record  of 
his  useful  life.  And  if,  in  addition  to  this,  I  have  in  these 
pages  set  down  anything  that  shall  interest  and  instruct 
my  readers,  so  that  they  shall  thank  me  for  the  work  I  have 
done,  then  I  shall  be  doubly  blessed. 

And  in  the  hope  that  this  rich  reward  may  be  mine,  I 
leave  this  book  with  you.  I  have  tried  to  tell  the  simple 
truth — no  more  —  no  less.  Farewell,  each  and  all.  If 
we  meet  never  more  on  earth,  we  may,  in  God's  own  time, 
meet  in  that  better  world,  where  he  whose  memory  we 
honor  has  found  sweet  rest  from  his  toil. 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


mm 


0035521856 


938.91 


C634- 


